Rethinking the Furuʿ al-Dīn: Ethical Principles as Practical Principles of Islam

The commonly accepted classification of Furuʿ al-Din (the Branches of Religion) in contemporary Shiite thought, as formulated by later Shiite scholars, consists predominantly of devotional obligations and leaves little room for fundamental ethical principles. This is despite the fact that many ethical values, grounded in unequivocal Qur'anic injunctions and authoritative traditions (hadith), possess a binding normative character and are intended to play a foundational role in the realization of faith and religious commitment. Employing a descriptive–analytical method, this study reexamines the concept of Furuʿ al-Din through a semantic analysis of the term and an investigation of its historical development in Imamī theological and jurisprudential literature. It argues that ethical principles such as justice, truthfulness, and birr (righteousness or benevolence), by virtue of their obligatory nature and their constitutive role in the normative structure of Islamic law, are conceptually capable of being recognized alongside devotional obligations as integral components of the practical foundations of Islam. An examination of the Qur'anic and hadith-based foundations of ethical obligation, together with an analysis of the conceptual implications of this approach, demonstrates that incorporating ethical principles into the framework of Furuʿ al-Din not only restores the intrinsic relationship between worship and morality but also transforms the structure of the Sharīʿa from a predominantly ritual-centered framework into an integrated devotional–ethical system, thereby offering a more comprehensive understanding of Islamic religious practice. The study ultimately seeks to establish a theoretical basis for developing a more inclusive classification of the practical foundations of Islam that combines devotional obligations with fundamental ethical virtues.

کلیدواژه ها:

Furuʿ al-Din ، Islamic Ethics ، Justice ، Truthfulness ، Birr (Benevolence)