Foundations, Scope, and Mechanisms for Supporting the World's Oppressed in the Legal System of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Jurisprudence of Islamic Schools

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD Graduate in Public Law, Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Law, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran.

3 Full Professor, Department of Law and Social Jurisprudence, Research Institute of Hawzeh and University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Supporting oppressed and vulnerable peoples is a fundamental principle of Islamic governance and a distinctive aspiration of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It clearly appears in Iranian constitutional law and in the jurisprudence of Islamic schools as a duty of the Islamic government. International law, however, generally recognizes non-intervention in the domestic affairs of states. This article therefore asks what foundations support the duty, how far it extends, which mechanisms may lawfully implement it, and how it can be reconciled with non-intervention. Using a descriptive-analytical and library-based method, the study examines the Qurʾān, Sunna, reason, the jurisprudence of the Islamic schools, Iranian constitutional principles, and relevant international legal materials. It finds that the duty has religious, rational, ethical, and constitutional foundations; its beneficiaries are not limited to Muslims; and its principal mechanisms are political, economic, and legal, with military assistance confined to exceptional conditions. Properly designed support does not intrinsically violate non-intervention because assistance, advocacy, lawful sanctions, judicial recourse, and narrowly justified collective protection differ from coercive imposition of political will.

Keywords

References

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Studies of Islamic Jurisprudence and Basis of Law
Volume 20, Issue 53 - Serial Number 53
September 2026
Pages 333-360

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