A Reflection on the Dominant View of Jurists Regarding Compensation for the Loss of the Sense of Taste (Based on Established Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence and the Anatomy of Taste, with Emphasis on Article 695 of the Islamic Penal Code)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran (Corresponding Author)

2 Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

   The majority of Imāmī jurists have considered the destruction of another person’s sense of taste as warranting the full mlood money or al-dīya (Arabic: الدیة, the financial compensation for homicide and injuries) of a human being, while a minority have deemed such an act to entail the imposition of ʾarsh (Arabic: أرش, indemnity). In the absence of a specific fiqhī proof establishing a prescribed dīya for the elimination and loss of the sense of taste, the majority of jurists have relied on the general and absolute primary texts related to the diya of body parts, such as the narrations of Muḥammad b. Sinān and Hishām b. Sālim. However, the opposing view has critiqued the aforementioned claim through the lens of tabādur (immediate comprehension) and inṣirāf (contextual restriction)—as indicators in the principles of jurisprudence for discerning the true meaning—and has established the realization of ʾarsh (compensation) for the loss of the sense of taste. The central question of this study is the extent to which the dominant juristic opinion—that a full dīya is owed for the elimination of the sense of taste—is compatible with foundational fiqhī principles. This research, conducted through a descriptive-analytical method and based on library sources, rejects the presumption (tabādur) that physical limbs are necessarily understood in the relevant riwāyāt on bodily dīya, and also does not accept the inṣirāf of key terms in these narrations from injuries affecting sensory functions (manāfiʿ). The study concludes that a close examination of the anatomy of taste and its neural pathways, along with reflection on the phrase minhu ʾithnān (Arabic: مِنْهُ إثثْنان) in the cited narrations, supports the conclusion that ʾarsh is the appropriate ruling for the destruction of the sense of taste. Furthermore, the dominant view asserting the obligation of full diyah conflicts with the jurists’ own fatwā stipulating one-third dīya in the case of cutting off the tongue of a mute individual.

Keywords

References

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