This is a translation of Mehdi Hairi Yazdi’s ???? ? ????? (?ikmat wa ?ukumat) which provides a philosophical critique of the theory of the guardianship of the jurist.
This theory is currently the governance theory in Iran and Mehdi Hairi Yazdi’s treatise provides a critique based on both philosophical and traditional arguments. It asks numerous questions, such as: ‘Is the governance of jurists philosophically coherent, rational and efficient?’ and ‘How can Muslim communities have their own forms of governance in such a manner that their faith commitments are met while living in their own time without clashing with universal values of governance?’ and debunks the key foundation of the guardianship of the jurist.
The present translation makes accessible, for the first time, the text of this critique in English, and provides a competing narrative based on his theory of joint public ownership in political theory.
Preface (Hamid Dabashi).- Introduction (Daryoush Mohammad Poor).- The Main Arguments of Mehdi Haeri Yazdi’s Wisdom and Governance.- 1.Predicative Existence (Hasti) vs. Copulative Existence (Asti).- 2. Copulative (Asti) vs. Normative (Bayisti).- 3. Existence (Hasti) and Quiddity (Chisti).- 4. Different Types of Necessity.- 5. Theoretical Reason and Practical Reason.- 6. ?ukumat and a Philological Understanding of its Quiddity.- 7. ?ukumat in Political Science and Common Politics.- 8. The Raison d’être of Governance.- 9. Governance, Politics and Statesmanship.- 10. Empirical Understanding of Governance.- 11. Analytical Knowledge of Governance and Statesmanship.- 12. The Fundamental and Main Duties of the Statesman.- 13. The Structure of Society Based on Private Joint Ownership.- 14. Natural Ownership versus Conventional and Legal Ownership.- 15. Private Exclusive Ownership versus Private Joint Ownership.- 16. Welfareor Peaceful Coexistence.- 17. The Meaning of Society as per Personal Joint Ownership.- 18. The Meaning of State in the Doctrine of Joint Ownership.- 19. Governance or Statesmanship.- 20. Individuality, Autonomy, Freedom and National Sovereignty.- 21. Comparing Private Joint Ownership and Social Contract.- 22. The Legislative Will or Rules of Law-making.- 23. The Principle of Grace.- 24. Divine Creative Foreknowledge of the Best System.- 25. Islamic Society and Democratic Societies.- 26. Prophecy, Imamate and Caliphate.- 27. Guardianship of the Jurist.- 28. The Unresolvable Mystery of the Islamic Republic and the Guardianship of the Jurist.- Bibliography of Mehdi Hairi Yazdi’s works.- Glossary of technical terms.- Index.
Mehdi Hairi Yazdi (1923-1999) was a contemporary jurist and philosopher and one of the most prominent exponents of the philosophy of Mulla ?adra in the tradition of classical Muslim philosophy. He received his qualification as an expert jurisprudent (mujtahid) from Grand Ayatollah Burujirdi, who was the most senior Twelver Shi?i authority after Hairi’s own father, Grand Ayatollah Abdulkarim Hairi Yazdi, who had founded the Qumm seminary in the early 20th century in Iran. Hairi joined Tehran University in 1952 as scholar of theology on the account of his traditional learning, which was equivalent to a PhD. In the years before the 1979 revolution, Hairi attended the University of Toronto’s Department of Philosophy where he earned his second PhD. Upon his return to Iran following the revolution, he resumed his academic career at Tehran University as Professor of Islamic Philosophy and rejoining the Iranian Academy of Philosophy, established before the revolution by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. About the Translator Dr. Daryoush Mohammad Poor is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Academic Research and Publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies and a lecturer for the Department of Graduate Studies at the Institute. His first monograph, Authority without Territory: The Aga Khan Development Network and the Ismaili Imamate (2014) is a fresh theoretical engagement with contemporary institutions of the Ismaili imamate. He has edited and translated the autobiography of Aga Khan I, with Daniel Beben. The book is now published under the title The First Aga Khan: Memoirs of the 46th Ismaili Imam (2018). His latest book Command and Creation: A Shi‘i Cosmological Treatise (2021) is a Persian edition and English translation of Muhammad al-Shahrastani’s Majlis-i maktub.
