FEQH-E AHL-E-BAIT
Year:2009 | Volume:15 | Issue:57|Papers Count:7

The essay focuses on taking possession of the "Found Property". The author first presents four types of narrations that indicate taking possession of the Found Property, and then discusses their possible interpretations. He, then, mentions three ways to solve the paradoxes that lie in those narrations, and reviews the cases in which one can or should give the Found Property as charity. He believes the Found Animal and the Found Property in Masjid -Al- Haram are exceptions and one cannot take possession of them. Finally, he finds the relation between narrations which suggest taking possession of the Found Property or giving it as charity and those which highlight that some Found Properties cannot be possessed.

The author begins his study with the different attitudes of the four Sunni denominations on reciting "Bismillah" (in the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful) in the prayer. He then proves that according to Shiite jurisprudence, all Suras - except Sura nine "Repentance"- are initiated with "Bismillah", and many great Sunni jurists agree with its recitation with loud voice in the prayer. To prove the three above claims, he mainly refers to Sunni tradition, and to complete each part, mentions some Shiite tradition. He finally reviews and criticizes the Sunni traditions which disagree with recitation or loud recitation of "Bismillah" in the prayer.

The essay focuses on three points, prohibition of suicide, necessity of saving one’s own life and saving the life of others. The author presents rational and traditional proofs and reasons, and attitudes of jurists and scholars. Based on those reasons, he concludes that committing suicide is absolutely prohibited. He, then, discusses two other subjects and mentions jurists’ attitudes to support them. He concludes that although all rational and traditional proofs show the obligatory aspect of saving and protecting one’s own life and the life of others, this rule cannot be considered unanimously in all cases.

The author gives a brief biography of Sheik Fazlolah Noori firs, and then reviews his attitudes about the government in the era of Occultation and basic elements of Constitutionalism. He says that Sheik Fazlolah Noori did not believe in Jurists government and their participation in politics, but rather considered ruling over the people as “Benevolent Actions” which require the pious ones to take the responsibilities.According to the author, Sheik Fazlolah did not elaborate any clear structure of this kind of government and presented no certain theory on that. He thought the basis of Western governing system was based on materialism and absolute absence of God and the other world, and therefore, he exaggerated in denying the achievements of the West without clear division between their advantages and disadvantages.

The law of discretionary punishment being lower than legal punishment is one of the most famous laws in Shiite jurisprudence that is really functional in Islamic penal jurisprudence. This law is basically based on tradition and narrations from which this rule can be deduced. Some narrations directly mention that discretionary punishment is lower than legal punishment. Others present certain amount for discretionary punishment which is lower than legal punishment. Some other narrations deny legal punishment for some particular acts and instead suggest discretionary punishment for that. Although there are disputes over these narrations, they all share one thing: the law of discretionary punishment is lower than legal punishment.In order to interpret this law, some issues have been taken into account. Some jurists define eighty lashes of standard legal punishment for a free man and forty lashes for a slave. Others believe that discretionary punishment should be relevant. For instance, in acts which can be compared to "false accusation of adultery", the standard legal punishment is as mentioned above. However, some others suggest seventy five lashes as the standard legal punishment. This essay reviews various attitudes and presents a theory.There are some cases in Shiite jurisprudence that discretionary punishment has been the assigned as legal punishment and the author reviews whether this matter is an exception to this law or not. The final part of the essay is the relation between this law and the Islamic penal law.