Fiqh and Usul

Fiqh and Usul

Reassessing the Application of Presumption of Continuity (Istiṣḥāb) in Legal Suspicion

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Amirhossein Ghazanfari
Level Four Seminary Student, Qom Seminary, Qom, Iran
10.22067/jfiqh.2024.86385.1724
Abstract
As jurists grow increasingly distant from the period in which the revealed texts (nuṣūṣ) were issued, and with the unprecedented rise of legal questions, the lack of sufficient ijtihād-based evidence to resolve all doubts necessitates recourse to juristic principles capable of encompassing all forms of uncertainty in determining the obligations of the legally responsible individual (mukallaf). Among the jurisprudential principles, Presumption of Continuity (istiṣḥāb) plays a pivotal role due to its evidentiary and status-preserving (muḥriz) function. Nevertheless, the applicability of istiṣḥāb to legal suspicion has been subject to debate. Opponents of its application have variously argued that the proof of istiṣḥāb lacks sufficient generality (iṭlāq), or that its constant internal conflict results in mutual cancellation (tasāquṭ), and the impossibility of relying on it in legal doubts. The majority of uṣūlī scholars, however, have rejected both claims. Adopting a descriptive–analytical approach and advancing a new formulation, this study examines the arguments proposed by both proponents and opponents of this idea. It concludes that istiṣḥāb is indeed applicable in legal suspicion, because the generality of its proofs with respect to such doubts is established and no obstacle exists to prevent its application.
Keywords
istiṣḥāb
legal suspicion
non-enactment (ʿadam-i -jaʿl)
persistence of the enacted ruling (baqā-yi majʿūl)
Subjects
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