The College of Education Ibn Rushd for Humanities at the University of Baghdad discussed a PhD dissertation entitled “Changing Legal Rulings in Light of Interests and Harms in Imami Thought”, submitted by Uday Kati‘ Sayyid from the Department of Islamic Education, specialising in Qur’anic Sciences.
The examination committee was chaired by Prof. Dr Haifa Mohammed Abdul Latif, with Prof. Dr Adel Abdul Sattar Al-Janabi serving as a member and supervisor, alongside a distinguished group of departmental academics. The committee also included an external member, Asst. Prof. Dr Mudhar Haider Mahmoud from the College of Education at the University of Mosul.
The study aimed to clarify the precise concept of changing Islamic legal rulings in Islamic jurisprudence generally and in Imami legal theory in particular. It also sought to define the scope of such changes, distinguish them from related concepts, and examine the jurisprudential foundations of the Imami theory that legal rulings are contingent upon interests and harms, including its evidentiary authority and role in establishing legal rulings.
The study concluded that, in Imami thought, changes in Islamic legal rulings are limited to rulings subject to juristic interpretation and change, and do not extend to definitive, established rulings grounded in religious texts. It also highlighted the importance of the objectives of Islamic law in guiding juristic reasoning and achieving a balance between the permanence of religious texts and the requirements of changing circumstances.
