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Inculpable Ignorant

Priority: c, Quality: b
From wikishia

Inculpable ignorant or al-jāhil al-qāṣir (Arabic: الجاهِل القاصِر) is a Muslim who is incapable of knowing or having access to jurisprudential obligations and rulings. Shiite jurists maintain that an inculpable ignorant will not be punished by God in the afterlife. Also, his worships count as valid if they match the fatwas of his marja' (jurisprudential authority) or match the fact of the matter. Some theologians believe that the ruling of an inculpable ignorant extends to some followers of other religions who are incapable of knowing the true religion, and so they will not be punished in the afterlife.

Meaning

In usul al-fiqh, it is said that there are two types of ignorant people: culpable and inculpable.[1] An inculpable ignorant person is one who is not capable of knowing jurisprudential obligations and rulings, whether they have tried to find the jurisprudential ruling and failed to know it, or could not even try to find the ruling, such as a person who lives in a remote place and has no access to scholars or religious centers.[2]

In some sources, an inculpable ignorant person is also referred to as an "intellectually impoverished" person.[3]

Inculpable Ignorant in Jurisprudential Rulings

Many Shiite scholars believe that the worships of a Muslim who is inculpable ignorant count as valid if they match the views of his marja' or match the fact of the matter, and are done with the intention of proximity to God.[4] Jurists believe that an inculpable ignorant will not be punished, because this would be contrary to intellect and justice.[5]

Inculpable Ignorant in Beliefs

Some Shiite theologians hold that the followers of other religions (who are incapable of knowing the true religion) count as being inculpable ignorant and will not be punished by God in the afterlife, and so they will not go to the hell.[6] They count this group of people as being intellectually impoverished.[7] According to Imam Khomeini, God will not punish inculpable ignorant people, because this would be unjust.[8] A few people believe that the followers of other religions who are inculpable ignorant will not only be exempt from afterlife punishments; they will also deserve divine rewards if they practice their own religious obligations in a correct and pure way.[9]

See Also

Notes

  1. Shāhrūdī, Farhang-i fiqh muṭābiq bā madhhab-i Ahl al-Bayt, vol. 3, p. 153; Bunyād-i Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmī, Dānishnāmah-yi Jahān Islām, vol. 11, under the entry Jahl.
  2. Shāhrūdī, Farhang-i fiqh muṭābiq bā madhhab-i Ahl al-Bayt, vol. 3, p. 153; Wilāyī, ʿīsā. Farhang-i tashrīḥī-yi iṣṭilāhāt-i usūl-i fiqh, vol. 1, p. 241; Bunyād-i Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmī, Dānishnāmah-yi Jahān Islām, vol. 11, under the entry Jahl.
  3. Surūsh and Ḥaydarī, Istikbār wa istiḍʿāf dar Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 33.
  4. Najafī, Majmaʿ al-rasāʾil, vol. 1, p. 41; Markaz-i Iṭilāʿt wa Madārik-i Islāmī, Farhangnāma-yi usūl-i fiqh, vol. 1, p. 373.
  5. Markaz-i Iṭilāʿt wa Madārik-i Islāmī, Farhangnāma-yi usūl-i fiqh, vol. 1, p. 373; Bunyād-i Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmī, Dānishnāmah-yi Jahān Islām, vol. 11, under the entry Jahl.
  6. ʿAzīzān, Plurālīzm-i nijāt dar andīsha-yi Islāmī, p. 4.
  7. Surūsh and Ḥaydarī, Istikbār wa istiḍʿāf dar Qurʾān, vol. 1, p. 33.
  8. Khomeinī, Anwār al-hidāya, vol. 2, p. 412, quoted by Dādjū, Maʿdhūrīyyat yā istiḥqāq-i pādāsh-i piyruwān-i jāhil-i qāṣir dar adyān-i dīgar, p. 117.
  9. Jawādī Āmulī, Tafsīr-i tasnīm, p. 227; Dādjū, Maʿdhūrīyyat yā istiḥqāq-i pādāsh-i piyruwān-i jāhil-i qāṣir dar adyān-i dīgar, p. 110.

References

  • ʿAzīzān, Mahdī. Plurālīzm-i nijāt dar andīsha-yi Islāmī. In Nashrīyya-yi Maʿrifat 121 (1386 Sh).
  • Bunyād-i Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmī. Dānishnāmah-yi Jahān Islām. Tehran: Bunyād-i Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmī, 1377 Sh.
  • Dādjū, Yadullāh. Maʿdhūrīyyat yā istiḥqāq-i pādāsh-i piyruwān-i jāhil-i qāṣir dar adyān-i dīgar. In Andīsha-yi Nuwīn-i Dīnī 43 (1394 Sh).
  • Jawādī Āmulī, ʿAbd Allāh. Tafsīr-i tasnīm. Edited by ʿAlī Islāmī. 2nd edition. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Asrāʾ, 1383 Sh.
  • Khomeinī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh. Anwār al-hidāya fī l-taʿliqa ʿalā l-kifāya. Tehran: Muʾassisa-yi Tanẓīm wa Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khomeini, 1372 Sh.
  • Markaz-i Iṭilāʿt wa Madārik-i Islāmī. Farhangnāma-yi usūl-i fiqh. Qom: Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm wa Farhang Islāmī, 1389 Sh.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-rasāʾil. First edition. Mashhad: Ṣāhib al-Zamān Inistitute, 1373 Sh.
  • Shāhrūdī, Sayyid Maḥmūd. Farhang-i fiqh muṭābiq bā madhhab-i Ahl al-Bayt. Qom: Muʾassisat Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-Fiqh al-Islāmī, 1382 Sh.
  • Surūsh, Muḥammad and Aḥmad Ḥaydarī. Istikbār wa istiḍʿāf dar Qurʾān. Qom: Sipāh-i Pāsdārān-i Inqilāb-i Islāmī, [n.d].
  • Wilāyī, ʿīsā. Farhang-i tashrīḥī-yi iṣṭilāhāt-i usūl-i fiqh. Tehran: Nashr-i Ney, 1373 Sh.