Among the Islamic schools of thought,

intellect Intellect is a faculty of the human mind that enables reasoning, abstraction, conceptualization, and judgment. It enables the discernment of truth and falsehood, as well as higher-order thinking beyond immediate perception. Intellect is dis ...

as a source for deriving

jurisprudential Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

rulings is usually mentioned by

Shia Islam Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...

, the others like the

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

school of thought suggest

Comparison Comparison or comparing is the act of evaluating two or more things by determining the relevant, comparable characteristics of each thing, and then determining which characteristics of each are similar to the other, which are different, and t ...

Discretion Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. The ability to make decisions which represent a res ...

, and other

speculative Speculative may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Speculative art (disambiguation) *Speculative fiction, which includes elements created out of human imagination, such as the science fiction and fantasy genres ** Speculative Fiction Group, a Pe ...

arguments.

Definition

' Aql

literally ''Literally'' is an English adverb meaning "in a literal sense or manner" or an intensifier which strengthens the associated statement. It has been used as an intensifier in English for several centuries, though recently this has been considered ...

is used in wisdom, maturity, knowledge, contemplation in opposition to asininity and idiotism. Technically, it is used for a faculty discovering good and evil and instigating good and avoiding evil. Man's sayings, behaviors, and judgments of things are through this reasoning that helps analyze the data received and choose the best one. Thus, the intellectual proof here is any certain intellectual ruling that leads to a Sharia ruling. Intellect can be classified according to its object into: First:

theoretical A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...

that is used when intellect cognizes what is subject to knowledge and is non-relevant to practice like the impossibility of the conjunction of the opposites or two plus two is four. Second is the

practical Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

intellect; that is when intellect cognizes what is relevant to practice like an evil being of injustice or goodness of hospitality. What we mean here, as the intellectual proof is the practical one.

Literature review

The first Usūlīs have not declared intellect as a source of Sharia; for example, Sheikh Mufīd (413 A.H) considers the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

and

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

sources and regarded the intellect as one of the ways to reach to the Quran and Sunnah. Sheikh Tūsī (460 A.H) only mentions that intellect finds out the obligation of appreciating the kindness of others and that justice is good, and injustice is evil, without counting intellect as a separate source of Sharia. Maybe Sayed Sharif Murtadhā (436 A.H) was the first one to name intellect as an independent source for Sharia rulings. According to him, when there is not a ruling for an issue in the three other sources (the book, Sunnah, and consensus), the jurist has to refer to intellect, and then, the ruling of intellect will be the ruling of Allah. Ibn Idrīs Hillī (598. A.H) declares this issue later without explaining it more. Later, Muhaqqiq Hillī (676 A.H) and

Shahid Awwal Shams al-Dīn () Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Makkī ibn Ḥāmid al-Nabaṭī al-ʿĀmilī al-Jizzīnī (1334–1385), better known as al-Shāhīd al-Awwal (, "The First Martyr"), was a Shi'a scholar and the author of ''al-Lum'ah al-Dimashqiy ...

(786 A.H)came to explain intellect as a source. Then, recent scholars like Mīrzāye Qummī and Sahib Al-Fusūl delivered more accurate and detailed discussions concerning intellect. On the contrary, Akhbārīs do not consider intellect as a source of Sharia.

Types of intellectual rulings/proofs

Intellect as an independent source for deducing Sharia rulings may be of two types:

1)Independent intellectual proofs

It is when intellect deduces a Sharia ruling without appealing to any Sharia

premise A premise or premiss is a proposition—a true or false declarative statement—used in an argument to prove the truth of another proposition called the conclusion. Arguments consist of a set of premises and a conclusion. An argument is meaningf ...

. In

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

, any

Syllogism A syllogism (, ''syllogismos'', 'conclusion, inference') is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true. In its earliest form (defin ...

is made of two premises (minor and major premises) and a conclusion. If both premises are intellectual then it is an independent intellectual proof. For example: - Justice is rationally good. - Whatever is good rationally is obligatory according to Sharia *Therefore, Justice is obligatory according to Sharia Another example: - Injustice is rationally evil. - Whatever is evil rationally is prohibited according to Sharia. *Therefore, Injustice is prohibited according to Sharia. Studying the views of Usūlīs here shows that the only Independent intellectual ruling is the issue of essential intellectual good and evil. In these arguments, the minor premise deals with the goodness or evil being of things and the major premise is the co-implication between the ruling of Sharia and that of intellect. Thus, there are two points to be explained:

a)Meaning of good and evil

Being

good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...

and

evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

might be interpreted in different ways: A. what is counted as perfection and positive characteristic for man can be called good and contrary to it what is regarded imperfection is considered evil. For example, knowledge, bravery, kindness is good and ignorance, forgery, betrayal is evil. All scholars agree that intellect can specify this kind of good and evil. B. what causes pleasure or is to the interest of man is considered by intellect to be good and what is unpleasing or is disadvantageous is taken to be evil. For example, exercising is good and drinking is evil. The scholars agree that intellect can specify this kind of good and evil as well. C. those deeds that are befitting and admired by the intellect are considered to be good and their doers deserve rewards for doing them, like

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

. On the contrary, the disagreeable, unappealing, inappropriate conducts are considered evil that their doers are to be blamed and punished such as injustice. Good and evil by this meaning are the subjects of debate here.

b)The meaning of essential good and evil

Man's conducts in regard to their being essentially good or evil are of three types: A. Some acts are essentially good or evil so that they are fixed under any circumstances. For example, justice is always good and injustice is always evil.{{Cite journal , last=Mackenzie , first=J. S. , date=1911 , title=The Meaning of Good and Evil , journal=International Journal of Ethics , volume=21 , issue=3 , pages=251–268 , doi=10.1086/intejethi.21.3.2376991 , jstor=2376991 , s2cid=143691848 , issn=1526-422X, doi-access= B. Some of the actions are demanding and require goodness or evil in normal conditions but they can lose this character under a specific condition, like truthfulness or lying. It means that truthfulness is good by itself but on some occasions, it might be evil, like a condition that telling truth may lead to the death of someone. This type of act is called accidental good and evil. C. Some actions are neutral in normal conditions and under specific conditions may be good or bad, like walking. Walking is not good or bad by itself. However, if one walks to go and help people, it turns good and if it is for hurting others, it becomes evil. As it is seen, the first meaning of good and evil is the matter of discussion here and the debate revolves around answering two questions: -regardless of Sharia statements, are there essential good and evil in man's conduct? -assuming the existence of essential good and evil in man's conduct, is the intellect capable to discover them? Shia,

Muʿtazila Mu'tazilism (, singular ) is an Islamic theological school that appeared in early Islamic history and flourished in Basra and Baghdad. Its adherents, the Mu'tazilites, were known for their neutrality in the dispute between Ali and his opponents ...

, and some

Ashʿarī Ash'arism (; ) is a school of theology in Sunni Islam named after Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, a Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer (''mujaddid''), and scholastic theologian, in the 9th–10th century. It established an orthodox guideline, based on sc ...

scholars believe in the essential good and evil in man's conduct, regardless of the Shari rulings. On the other hand, the majority of Ashʿarīs believe that the deeds of man have no value other than what Sharia ascribes to them. Thus, what Sharia considers to be good is good and what it regards as evil is evil. The first group appeals to man's conscience-based-based cognition from any

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

or thought to find justice good and injustice evil. So that it is beyond the teachings of religions. Besides, without essential good and evil, even one cannot prove the truthfulness of

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

s and they cannot be trusted, because if we deny essential good and evil, then it is not evil to lie, and also injustice is not evil. Therefore, the person who claims to be a prophet can lie and

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

can give miracles to liars and this injustice and misguidance are not evil. Then, how can we trust prophets and follow them? Concerning the second question, Shia Usūlīs believe that man can discern essential good and evil through the intellect without referring to the statement of Sharia.

c)Co-implication between the ruling of intellect and Sharia

We first need to clarify the meaning of co-implication and then suggest proof for it. 1. To understand the meaning of this co-implication look at the example one more time: - Justice is rationally good. - Whatever is good rationally is obligatory according to Sharia Therefore:Justice is obligatory according to Sharia In the major premise, it has been claimed that what intellect deduces is implied by Sharia so there is an implication or co-implication between the ruling of intellect and Sharia. Thus, deduction of the Shari ruling out of intellect depends on accepting this implication. 2. The proof for the co-implication is rational as well. When intellect finds certain expediency and goodness in doing an action or when it is certain on evil being of another action and had a certain ruling for necessity of performing or abandoning that action, then the intellect will have another ruling beside it; that is to say: any rational and wise law-giver has to find this action obligatory or prohibited as well.

2)Dependent intellectual proofs

It is when intellect deduces a Sharia ruling by appealing to some Sharia premises. So that some of the

premises Premises are land and buildings together considered as a property. This usage arose from property owners finding the word in their title deeds, where it originally correctly meant "the aforementioned; what this document is about", from Latin '' ...

are Sharia and some of them are intellectual. For instance: -Allah has commanded to perform

Salāt ''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific se ...

in the

(Sharia) - The command of Allah denotes obligation (intellectual rule) Therefore: Salāt is obligatory. Another example: - Salāt is obligatory (Shari) - Whatever is obligatory then its preliminaries (Muqaddamāt) are obligatory too. (Intellectual) Therefore: The preliminaries of Salāt are obligatory according to Sharia Concerning dependent intellectual proofs, Usūlīs discuss the following issues separately: * The problem of preliminary of the mandatory act * Implication of invalidity by prohibition (Iqtidhā' Al-Nahy li-lfisād) * The problem of the opposite (Dhid) * Conjunction of command and prohibition * Replacement/ Sufficiency (Ijzā)

References

External links

* https://www.islamic-banking.com/knowledge/islamic-jurisprudence-fiqh * https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2334-6396/2020/2334-63962001051A.pdf * https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7817/jameroriesoci.136.3.0515 * https://books.google.com/books?id=4olFDAAAQBAJ&dq=Intellectual+proofs+in+Shia+jurisprudence&pg=PA171 * https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338388201_A_HISTORICAL_APPROACH_TO_THE_FOUNDATIONS_OF_SHIITE_RELIGIOUS_LAWS_IN_LIGHT_OF_THE_PRE-ISLAMIC_IRANIAN_LEGAL_SYSTEM_FROM_THE_SASSANID_ERA Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Hawza Islamic philosophy Legal interpretation