A Re-definition of Rational Combination in Narrations and its Jurisprudential Applications

فقه و اصول (Fiqh va uṣūl)

Article 1, Volume 57, Issue 1 - Serial Number 140, May 2025, Pages 11-38   

Document Type: Original Article

DOI: 10.22067/jfiqh.2024.85982.1711

Authors

Mahdi Ejtehadi Ata Abadi¹; Saeid Nazari Tavakkoli^{* 2}; Zeynab Mohammadzade³

¹PhD Candidate, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Law and Imam Khomeini’s Thought, Imam Khomeini Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

²Professor, Department of Jurisprudence and the Essentials of the Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³Assistant Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Law and Imam Khomeini’s Thought, Imam Khomeini Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The reasons behind the conflict between the narrations of infallibales (ma‘ṣūmīn) in the two fields of ḥadīth and methodology of jurisprudence (uṣūl-i fiqh) has been already analyzed. The scholars of uṣūl have focused on combining the conflicting narrations in order to employ them effectively in legal reasoning (istinbāṭ). In doing so, they have turned to methods based on the customary conversation system (muḥāwarah), such as restricting absolute statements (taqīyid al-muṭlaqāt), specifying general rules (takhṣīṣ al-‘umāmat), authority (ḥukūmah) and entry, prioritizing text over appearance, and prioritizing the clearer meaning (al-aẓhhar) over the apparent meaning (al-ẓāhir), which is referred to as rational consensus. However, focusing on the wording and literary structure of the infallible’s and the narrator’s statement is not sufficient for resolving all conflicts. The present research, conducted through the descriptive-analytical method and using library resources, depicts that some jurists have used a method called “rational combination” (jamʿ ʿuqalāʾī) in resolving contrary narrations. These jurists have taken into account the prevailing conditions of the time in which narrations were issued in assessing the relationship between contradictory narrations, and have tried to combine these seemingly contradictory narrations and demonstrate their coherence by analyzing the social, political, economic, and cultural circumstances of the infallibles’ era, regardless of the literary structure of their statements. The present study aims to redefine rational combination and compare it with customary combination (jamʿ ʿurfī), highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.

Keywords

conflict of narrations; rational combination; customary combination

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