A Reflection on the Nature and Foundations of "Compulsory Peace" in Imāmī Fiqh

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Reza Awan ¹

Seyed Mohammad Taghi Ghabooli Dorafshan ²

Hossein Nasseri Moghaddam ³

¹ PhD Graduate, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³ Professor, Department of Fiqh and Foundations of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2023.80190.1503

Abstract

Classical jurisprudential texts refer to an institution known as “Compulsory Peace” (ṣulḥ-i qahrī), which calls for further analysis. Compulsory Peace, which refers to the sharʿī and legal compulsion of two disputing or hesitant parties to enter into mandatory reconciliation, appears across numerous areas of jurisprudence, including deposit (vadīʿah), partnership (shirkat), sale (bayʿ), khums, retribution (qiṣāṣ), and others. Two principal issues arise concerning Compulsory Peace: First, how compulsion can be reconciled with the requirement of mutual consent in contracts; and second, how the foundations of this legal and jurisprudential institution should be understood. The present study employs a descriptive-analytical method and pursues three approaches to the nature of Compulsory Peace. The first holds that all instances constitute contracts; the second views the obligation to reconcile as a sharʿī ruling, and the third (which is adopted as the preferred view) distinguishes between the different sources underlying various cases of Compulsory Peace. According to this position, in some situations the obligation to reconcile constitutes a sharʿī ruling, in others it results from the coercive authority of the ruler, and still in others it involves the ruler’s representation in performing the ṣīghah of reconciliation. These factors serve as the grounds that generate peace and do not themselves determine its essence. What is common to all instances of Compulsory Peace is the public interest (maṣlaḥah) of ending conflict and removing uncertainty, which is grounded in eliminating the cause of dispute, observing precaution, and establishing equity.

Keywords

peace

Compulsory Peace

ṣulḥ al-ijbār

conditions of contractual validity

correspondence between contract and intent

sharʿī ruling

Subjects

• Civil jurisprudence

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