بررسی انتقادی دیدگاه شهید مطهری در رابطه با حقوق طبیعی

One of the few Muslim philosophers and jurists who explicitly addressed the issue of natural rights and its aspects was the late Master Motahhari. Contrary to many Muslim thinkers who have not paid direct attention to this subject, he has specifically explored the ontological and epistemological dimensions of natural rights in numerous instances in his works. While considering Muslims as pioneers in proposing the idea of natural rights, he expressed regret over the stagnation of this important and strategic issue in the jurisprudential and usul (principles of jurisprudence) discussions among Muslims, particularly the Imamis. He attributed the lack of attention and negligence by jurists to this subject to their disregard for the role of intellect in inferring religious rulings. He explicitly stated that the neglect of the status of intellect and the philosophy of rulings, as well as the principle of justice and its implications, prevented Islamic social philosophy from developing, resulting in a "jurisprudence that emerged disproportionately with other principles, without principles and foundations, and without social philosophy. If freedom of thought had remained, and the issue of the superiority of the Ahl al-Sunnah over the Mu'tazila had not arisen, and the calamity of Akhbarism had not befallen the Shia, we would now have a codified social philosophy, and our jurisprudence would be based on this principle, and we would not be facing the current contradictions and dead ends."



However, from the perspective of the present paper, the late Motahhari's regret towards the jurists is unfounded. Since he rejected and refuted the role of intellect in inference based on a firm principle, namely "the intellect's inadequacy in comprehending the underlying reasons for rulings," as long as the aforementioned aspect is not addressed, there remains no basis for resorting to intellectual rulings in the process of inference.



From the perspective of the present paper, since the aforementioned principle is sound and irrefutable, achieving certainty through intellect in the realm of inference is impossible. The only way for intellect to enter and play a role in this domain is by considering intellectual conjectures as valid.



From the perspective of the present paper, intellectual conjectures—given the explanations that will follow—possess the capability of being considered valid and authoritative. Consequently, the ground is laid for recognizing the intellect as a source in the process of inference and for shaping a rational normative system. The outcome of this approach is, firstly, the dominance of rational norms over نقل (transmitted/textual) norms; secondly, the dominance of rational norms over legal rules; and thirdly, the possibility of formulating a legal system consistent with rationality.



Keywords: Natural Rights, Final Cause, Correspondence of Right and Duty, Transmitted Conjectures, Intellectual Conjectures



Introduction



According to the late Motahhari, natural rights serve as a strong foundation for positive law. He considers the interpretation of rights by Western philosophers, which is made without regard to their natural foundations—including the principle of finality, which is only discussed in divine philosophy—to be flawed and unacceptable. He believes that although discussions of human rights, animal rights, environmental rights, etc., arise in Western philosophy, due to the lack of attention to the principle of finality and the purposeful nature of the universe, and the view that in materialist philosophy the relationship between beings is entirely coincidental, this philosophy is incapable of interpreting and justifying innate rights. In this perspective, there is no sound basis for justifying natural and innate rights. In contrast, in the divine philosophy, there is a teleological relationship between humans and natural resources, the world's provisions are created for humans, and a universal consciousness governs the universe, creating everything for a purpose and guiding them harmoniously towards a goal. Therefore, in this approach, the capacity and possibility for validating the theory of natural rights are fully present and realized.



Based on three principles—finality, the harmony between the system of creation and the system of legislation, and the correspondence of right and duty—he lays the foundation for his theory of natural rights and seeks to extend and harmonize the philosophical principles of Islam with its normative system, known as jurisprudence.



He considers the ineffectiveness of jurisprudential laws to be a result of superficiality and the disregard for the right of intellect in inferring divine rulings, attributing the lack of formation of an Islamic legal system and social philosophy to the same cause.



Given these brief explanations, we will proceed to examine and evaluate the views of Master Motahhari in two sections. In the first part, we will study his views on natural rights in terms of conceptualization, ontology, and epistemology. In the second part, we will offer observations on his viewpoints concerning all three aspects mentioned above.