Contemporary Legal Rulings In Shi'i Law

ID book

Author(s): Ayatullah Ali Al-Husayni Al-Sistani

Category: Islamic Laws

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In accordance with the rulings (fatawa) of Ayatullah al-'Uzma al-Sayyid 'Ali al-Husayni al-SeestaniIn accordance with the rulings (fatwa) of Ayatullah Seestani. Includes rulings on new and contemporary issues such as organ donation, genetics and magic.

Dedication

Please recite Suratu-l-Fatihah for

Marhum Haji Mohamed-Taki Shermohamed Nasser

uncle of

Haji Hussainali Abdullah

Those who have faith and do wholesome deeds - them We shall admit to gardens (jannat) beneath which rivers flow, therein dwelling forever and ever - Allah's promise in truth. And who is truer in speech than Allah?

(Qur'an, 4:122)

Translator's Preface

Bismihi Ta'ala

The Qur'an and the corpus of hadith literature constitute a comprehensive legal resource that is invoked to regulate the various aspects of a Muslim believer's life. New situations and contingencies have prompted the experts in the field to delve into the sources and to devise methodological devices in usul al-fiqh to enable them to deduce fresh juridical rulings (fatawa) in order to deal with novel problems and issues. Consequently, the door of independent research (ijtihad) -- deducing legal rulings in the area of human-divine ('ibadat) and human-human (mu'amalat) relationships -- has remained open in the Ja'fari/Shi'ah Ithna 'Ashari/Imami school of thought. This is not a peculiar feature of the Ja'fari school, and it is presently being argued in Islamic scholarship that, contrary to the commonly held opinion, the gate of ijtihad was not considered closed by Sunni jurists of the 4th/10th century.

This work contains the translation of a selection of new legal

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