Rereading Stability and Change in Islamic Rulings in Light of the Status of Forgery, Actuality and Ambiguity

Document Type : Scientific Research

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Jurisprudence and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The stability–change problem in legal rulings is one of the key epistemic knots in contemporary Islamic jurisprudence. This study revisits the issue by distinguishing two levels—the stage of promulgation and the stage of actualization—and by explaining how conceptual vagueness shapes interpretations and generates only apparent conflicts. The central question is: How can one preserve fidelity to the Sharia’s fixed principles while delivering credible time- and place-sensitive responses? Methodologically, the paper adopts an analytic–conceptual approach, combining a close analysis of usul al-fiqh, fiqh, and hadith sources with insights from the philosophy-of-language literature on vagueness. The findings show that stability at the stage of promulgation is not incompatible with change at the stage of actualization, because a ruling becomes operative only when its subject is instantiated together with relevant customary qualifiers, temporal–spatial conditions, and incidental attributes. Building on this, the paper’s two-tier framework systematizes the network of factors that govern operativity—secondary considerations, pragmatic conflict (tazāhum), subject change, custom, time and place, governmental rulings, and maqāṣid—and it prevents conflating concept and instance. The paper’s contribution is to link the promulgation/actualization distinction to a theory of vagueness, and to derive legal implications for legislation, adjudication, and regulation. This framework, in turn, supports dynamic ijtihād and more robust legal decision-making.

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References

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Civil Law Knowledge
Volume 14, Issue 28 - Serial Number 28
January 2026
Pages 159-174

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