Jurisprudence the Essentials of the Islamic Law

Jurisprudence the Essentials of the Islamic Law

A new Reading of the Criteria of Jurisprudential Rulings in the Light of Substantive Movement

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Akram Abdolahpur 1
Hasan abasi hosein abadi 2
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Foundations of Islamic Law, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
2 Professor, Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22059/jjfil.2026.408691.669937
Abstract
One of the foundational questions in the philosophy of Fiqh concerns the criteria of rulings: namely, whether legal-religious rulings are grounded in real goods and harms, and, if so, how these goods are manifested within human existence. The present article seeks, by drawing on the foundations of Transcendent Theosophy, especially the theory of Trans-Substantial Motion, to offer a new analysis of the criteria of rulings.
On this view, the human being is not a static entity but is undergoing ontological development, and this development provides a generative ontic framework for explaining the variability of the criterion-constituents in one’s actions. Within this perspective, the criterion of a ruling is not assessed merely by relating an act to a fixed good; rather, it must be analyzed within the horizon of the human being’s Trans Substantial Motion and their existential trajectory.
Accordingly, the fluidity of the criteria pertains to the level of actualization and conformity/application, not to an unregulated alteration at the level of legislation/enactment. The novelty of this article lies in establishing, apparently for the first time, a new connection between the theory of Trans Substantial Motion and the process of inferring criteria in Fiqh, and in showing how the ontological development of the morally responsible agent can account for the diversity, gradualness, and scalability of the criteria of rulings. In the end, while responding to two anticipated objections, the robustness of this analysis is clarified.
Keywords
Trans Substantial Motion
criteria of rulings
Transcendent Theosophy
human existential dynamism
transformative fiqh
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Jurisprudence the Essentials of the Islamic Law
Volume 59, Issue 1
Spring & Summer 2026
September 2026
Pages 193-213