Author

• S.M. Sadri

Abstract

Casual relationship is a concept related to cosmic world reflected in legal matters. It seems that in Sunni school of fiqh the origins of the concept firstly used when discussing analogy and inferring legal dogmas from their philosophies. The concepts of philosophy of percept (hokm) and percept have been later compared with natural cause and caused. Sunni jurists have slightly tried to distinguish between them.
In Shiite school of fiqh from the beginning jurists did not welcome analogy, juristic preference (istihsan) and consideration of public interest as an independent resource for inferring divine percept. Rather they criticized these institutes. According to Shiite jurists, casual relationship in this sense doesn’t work as a base for inferring divine percepts. However, in late Shiite fiqh in different jurisprudential discussions and particularly in social chapters and parts, the idea of causality has been taken into consideration and has helped found strong basis in different Islamic legal issues including making new contracts and unilateral legal acts. Sometimes, however, the precisions of the issue are ignored and casual relationship in legal issues has been assimilated with causality in cosmic beings. The basic problems are coming from the assimilation of casual relationship in cosmic world with casual relationship in legal matters. The problem, in its turn, comes from ignorance of the fact that although human mind takes the concept of causal relationship from the cosmic world, it doesn’t mean that all characteristics of the concept must be precisely and necessarily applied in legal matters. Considering this fact and paying attention to all different aspects of legislation enable us to find suitable and analogical resolutions for legal problems while avoiding the problem of preponderance without a preponderant which is rationally prohibited.

Keywords

• cause
• effect
• philosophy of precept
• causal relationship
• real existence
• contractual existence