The Approach of Traditions concerning the Cause of Revelation in the Imāmī Jurists’ Inference from Āya 115 of Sūrat al-Baqara

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Elāheh Shāhpasand
• Murtaḍā Īravānī Najafī
• Muḥammad Ḥasan Ḥā’irī Yazdī

10.22067/fiqh.v0i0.10895

Abstract

Six causes of revelation have been related concerning āya 115 of Sūrat al-Baqara; i.e. the noble āya, ﴾To Allah belong the east and the west: so whichever way you turn, there is the face of Allah! Allah is indeed all-bounteous, all-knowing.﴿ Because of their relation through the Shī‘a, two of these causes of Revelation have attracted more attention of the Imāmī jurisprudents. These two traditions have had a special role in jurisprudential studies concerning qibla and have been helpful in inference of rulings about mutaḥarrī (inquiry) and mutaḥayyir (confused).
However, sometimes the legal outcomes of these traditions have been contradictory; those who have regarded the āya as concerning mutaḥayyir, have deemed as sufficient his prayer in one direction. But the advocates of the
generally accepted view, who deem as necessary the praying of mutaḥayyir in four directions, appeal to another cause of Revelation that views the āya to be concerning the supererogatory prayer. At the same time, some believe that there is no contradiction between these two traditions and the Revelation of the āya concerning both; because the āya is general and only the scholar and whoever is considered as a scholar is an exception to this generality in terms of a religious duty (farīḍa) and because of the āya of turning one’s face toward the Holy Mosque, ﴾so turn your face towards the Holy Mosque.﴿ (Sūrat al-Baqara: 144). Consequently, although the sufficiency of a prayer is more righteous, its repetition is more consistent with discretion.
This article undertakes a detailed examination of this issue and a research into other dimensions of the status of the cause of Revelations in the impressions of Imāmī jurists about the āya. Thereby, it attempts to witness the relation of one of the Qur’ānic sciences – i.e., cause of Revelation – to the science of jurisprudence.

Keywords

• : traditions on the cause of Revelation
• direction of qibla
• mutaḥarrī (inquiry) and mutaḥayyir (confused)
• legal inference

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