Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

The Status of Moral Considerations in Islamic Jurisprudential Reasoning

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Abolghasem Fanaei
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Mofid University, Qom, Iran.
10.22096/rc.2026.2090926.1318
Abstract
Whether moral considerations actually bear or ought to bear on reasoning — and under what conditions such reasoning retains its validity — is one of the most important questions in the epistemology and hermeneutics of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). The question is not merely theoretical: systematic moral reform within fiqh cannot proceed without a rigorous answer. This article examines it from both descriptive and normative standpoints.
Descriptively, I offer a systematic articulation of the role moral considerations actually play in the prevailing traditional methodology of fiqh — a position that, while widely practiced, has not previously been made explicit in this form. I argue that within this framework, moral considerations carry no independent epistemic weight in legal reasoning; and where any role is conceded, it is conditional upon certitude (qaṭʿ).
Normatively, I advance a novel argument: moral considerations — even when certain — do not by themselves justify a belief in the existence of a ruling (ḥukm) in the divine law. Yet they can perform a significant and underappreciated gatekeeping function in three distinct respects, even when they are merely probable (ẓannī): they can ground a belief in the absence of a ruling that conflicts with them; they can block recourse to transmitted textual evidence (adilla naqliyya) incompatible with moral constraints, thereby precluding endorsement of morally incompatible rulings; and they can prevent the application of practical legal principles (uṣūl ʿamaliyya) in morally unacceptable directions.
By mapping the precise contours of these roles, I aim to lay the groundwork for a more rigorous account of how jurisprudential reasoning can and should be morally reformed.
Keywords
Islamic jurisprudential reasoning
moral considerations
sharīʿa and morality
fiqh and ethics
moral norm and legal ruling
jurisprudential evidence and moral evidence
Subjects
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Journal of Religion and the Contemporary World

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 01 July 2026