Fatwa on the prohibition of production and using nuclear weapons

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Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei

The fatwa on the prohibition of production and using nuclear weapons is the jurisprudential view of Ayatollah Khamenei, which was raised in response to Israel's claim regarding Iran's decision to make nuclear weapons. Ayatollah Khamenei considers weapons of mass destruction a threat to humanity and thus forbidden.

To express the prohibition in this ruling, some researchers have cited verses from the Qur'an and hadiths against attacking civilians. According to Abu l-Qasim Alidust, the history of the prohibition of the use of weapons of mass destruction by Shi'a jurists goes back at least ten centuries ago.

This fatwa was reflected in political analysis centers and international think tanks and was registered in the United Nations as an official document. The book Fiqh-i haste'i (lit. trans. as "Nuclear jurisprudence")  by a group of authors and the book Nuclear Fatwa Under International Law by Jabir Saywanizad have examined the arguments and aspects of the prohibition of production and using nuclear weapons.

Significance

The fatwa on the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons was issued by the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, in response to the claims of pro-Israeli media that Iran is producing nuclear weapons.[1] This fatwa was officially read at the first "International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons" in 2010 in Iran.[2]

In response to questions about the attempt of the Islamic Republic of Iran toward making an atomic bomb, Ali Akbar Salihi, the then head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said that Iran's good choice is to respect the fatwa on the prohibition of producing and using nuclear weapons and to follow it.[3] Hillary Clinton, the then US Secretary of State, also pointed to this jurisprudential view of Iran’s leader to provide the ground for the negotiations between the US and Iran in April 2012.[4] Also, Barack Obama, the then president of the United States, cited this fatwa and attracted the attention of the world media on September 24, 2013, at the United Nations.[5]

Reflection

Ayatollah Khamenei’s fatwa was welcomed worldwide[6] and was widely reflected in political analysis centers and international think tanks.[7] According to news agencies, Ayatollah Khamenei’s message to the International Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, which contained a fatwa against the production and use of nuclear weapons, was registered in the United Nations as an official document.[8] In an interview, Jonathan Granoff, head of the Global Security Institute in the United States, asked the leader of Iran to write a letter to religious leaders of the world to announce the prohibition of using nuclear weapons under any circumstances so that they would join him.[9]

In 2013, a group of six American priests and experts met and discussed with Shia scholars in Qom, Iran to assess the validity of this jurisprudential opinion. They reported the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Shia jurisprudence and the results of their trip to the US government to be considered in the nuclear negotiations of the West with Iran.[10] In 2021, BBC Persian TV broadcasted the documentary "A Nuclear Fatwa" in a program that indicated the possibility that Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa would be temporary and change.[11] However, jurisprudence researchers rejected this possibility and the involvement of time and place in issuing this fatwa.[12]

Historical Background

Nuclear weapons are considered as examples of weapons of mass destruction.[13] According to Abu l-Qasim Alidust in 2014, Shia jurists issued fatwas at least ten centuries ago regarding the prohibition of using weapons and means that cause massive killing of humans and the destruction of living beings and the environment.[14] Also, since February 19, 2010, Ayatollah Khamenei has many times expressed his fatwa and opinion against the production and use of nuclear weapons.[15]

Text of Fatwa and the Consensus with other Marja's

The text of the fatwa of Sayyid Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, was read on April 17, 2010, by Ali Akbar Velayati, in his official message to the First International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.[16] This message says:

"We believe that, in addition to nuclear weapons, other types of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical weapons and biological weapons, are also considered a serious threat against humanity... We consider the use of these weapons to be forbidden."[17]

It is said that in the first half of the 2011, the opinions and fatwas of Marja's such as Makarim Shirazi, Nuri Hamadani, Ja'far Subhani, and Jawadi Amuli also confirmed and emphasized the jurisprudential viewpoint of Ayatollah Khamenei.[18] Abu l-Qasim Alidust, the secretary of the National Conference on Nuclear Jurisprudence, and Ahmad Muballighi, a member of the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership, have considered this theory a divine and eternal ruling that cannot be changed or compromised.[19]

Arguments

Various jurisprudential arguments have been stated for the prohibition of producing and using nuclear weapons. Ayatollah Khamenei considers the reason for the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons to be the opposition of fundamental Islamic beliefs with the use of weapons of mass destruction. According to him, using such weapons destroys agriculture and human generations, as mentioned in verse 205 of Quran 2.[20] In this regard, Abu l-Qasim Alidust considered the correction of the state of the servants in relation to God and in relation with each other as one of the goals of Islam and stated that correction is never achieved by corruption and the use of weapons of mass destruction.[21]

Verses of the Qur'an

The Shi'a jurist Ahmad Muballighi considers the jurisprudential arguments for this point of view to be numerous and points to three Quranic rules:[22]

  • According to the rule of Wizr,[23] the innocent should not be involved in penalizing the guilty. The use of nuclear weapons leads to mass killing and punishment of innocents and even harms future generations.
  • Based on the principle of the prohibition of attempting to corrupt,[24] any action that leads to corruption on the earth and the destruction of agriculture (crops and livestock) and generations is forbidden.
  • The rule of Ithm prohibits any act whose ugliness and corruption outweighs its benefits.[25] According to Moballeghi, there is no doubt that the corruption of nuclear weapons is more than their possible benefits.

Nassir Qurban-nia considers verses 190 and 205 of Quran 2 and verses 8 and 32 of Quran 5 to indicate the absolute prohibition of using nuclear weapons.[26]

Hadiths

In the jurisprudential study of the prohibition of nuclear weapons as an example of weapons of mass destruction, some hadiths have been cited, including the following:

  • Abu l-Qasim Alidust and Muhammad Jawad Fadil Lankarani have cited hadiths regarding the prohibition of pouring poison into the enemy's water.[27]
  • Some researchers have argued and supported it with hadiths about the prohibition of assaulting civilians (children, women, the elderly, the insane, and animals).[28]

Bibliography

Several books have been written about the fatwa on the prohibition of producing and using nuclear weapons:

  • The book Nuclear Fatwa Under International Law by Jabir Seywanizad was published by the American publisher “Supreme Century”. This book has been said to have determined the legal status and aspects of Ayatollah Khamenei’s fatwa on nuclear weapons from the perspective of international law.[29]
  • The book Fiqh-i haste'i (lit. trans. as “nuclear jurisprudence”) by the efforts of Abu l-Qasim Alidust, including ten jurisprudential articles on the prohibition of the production and use of nuclear weapons and mass killings, was published in 2013. The book's content is the result of the conference on jurisprudence of nuclear issues that was held in Tehran and Qom in 2013 Sh.[30]
  • Michael Eisenstadt and Mahdi Khalaji investigated this nuclear fatwa by writing the book Nuclear Fatwa: Religion and Politics in Iran’s Proliferation Strategy, published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.[31]

Notes

  1. ↑ Registering the message of the leader of Iran as a document in the United Nations (Persian)
  2. ↑ Acquaintance with the International Conference on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Persian)
  3. ↑ Salihi: Only the leader of the revolution can give a correct opinion about the construction of nuclear weapons (Persian)
  4. ↑ A fatwa that reached the United Nations after 10 years (Persian)
  5. ↑ A fatwa that reached the United Nations after 10 years (Persian)
  6. ↑ A review of the issuance of a fatwa banning nuclear weapons by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution of Iran (Persian)
  7. ↑ Muhammadpur, Fatwa as a source of international law, p. 134. (Persian).
  8. ↑ Registering the message of the leader of Iran as a document in the United Nations (Persian)
  9. ↑ Religious leaders of the world should join Ayatollah Khamenei (Persian)
  10. ↑ We went to Qom to review Ayatollah Khamenei's nuclear fatwa (Persian)
  11. ↑ A nuclear fatwa (Persian)
  12. ↑ Can the religious ban on using nuclear weapons be changed? (Persian)
  13. ↑ Production and use of weapons of mass destruction from the perspective of Islamic jurisprudence (Persian)
  14. ↑ Examining the prohibition of weapons of mass destruction in the history of Shiism (Persian)
  15. ↑ Statements in the meeting of those involved in the construction of Jamaran Battleship (Persian); Statements of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution in the meeting with officials and agents of the system (Persian)
  16. ↑ Message to the first international conference on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation (Persian)
  17. ↑ Message to the first international conference on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation (Persian)
  18. ↑ Prohibition of weapons of mass destruction in the history of Shiism (Persian)
  19. ↑ The four requirements of the leader's fatwa on the prohibition of nuclear weapons (Persian); Can the religious ban on using nuclear weapons be changed? (Persian)
  20. ↑ Statements in the meeting of those involved in the construction of Jamaran Battleship (Persian)
  21. ↑ Group of writers, Nuclear jurisprudence, p. 113.
  22. ↑ Jurisprudential reasons for banning the production of nuclear weapons (Persian)
  23. ↑ Derived from Quran 17:15 "No bearer shall bear another’s burden."
  24. ↑ Derived from Quran 2:205.
  25. ↑ Derived from Quran 2:219, "but their sinfulness outweighs their profit".
  26. ↑ Group of writers, Nuclear jurisprudence, p. 182-184.
  27. ↑ Group of writers, Nuclear jurisprudence, p. 87, 112.
  28. ↑ Group of writers, Nuclear jurisprudence, p. 85-87, 185, 231, 343.
  29. ↑ The nuclear fatwa of the leader of the Iranian revolution from the perspective of international law published in United States of America (Persian)
  30. ↑ The book Nuclear jurisprudence was released in the 32nd book fair (Persian)
  31. ↑ Muhammadpur, Fatwa as a source of international law, p. 133-134. (Persian)

References

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