Document Type : Original Article
Author
Assistant Professor of jurisprudence and Islamic Law Department, Faculty of Humanity Science, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
The Iranian legal system has witnessed significant developments regarding the Diya for crimes against religious minorities; So that until 2003, due to the fact that this issue remained silent in the codified laws and the matter was referred to the famous fatwa of jurists in accordance with Article 167 of the Constitution, the Diya of these minorities could only be paid in the amount of eight hundred dirhams. The legal vacuum in this regard caused the Parliament to consider the Diya of religious minorities as equivalent to the Diya of Muslims in a resolution in 2003; however, the Guardian Council declared this resolution contrary to the principles of Sharia and, given the Parliament’s insistence on its resolution, the matter was referred to the Expediency Council, and the Council ultimately approved the Parliament’s opinion. The result of this research is that basically in Islamic law, the determination of the amount of Diya for crimes against religious minorities is entrusted to the Imam and the leader of the Islamic community, as a first ruling, to determine the amount of Diya according to the circumstances. Accordingly, the ruling to equalize the Diya for crimes against religious minorities recognized in the constitution with Muslims in the Islamic Penal Code was not issued as a secondary ruling and due to the occurrence of a matter such as urgency or necessity; rather, this ruling is a result of the exercise of the leadership's authority in determining the amount of Diya for these minorities.
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