Analysis of Jurisprudential-Theological Boundaries of Legitimacy of Protest in the Islamic State; Reading of Political Jurisprudence in Response to Protest Actions

1. Introduction

One of the characteristics of social life is the difference in perspectives and methods among individuals in society, which can lead to dissatisfaction, protest, and even chaos. Different governance models, based on the type of political philosophy and the manner of public policy-making, each address the issue of political and social protests in their own way. Accordingly, this research has been written with the aim of answering the main question: "What are the limits and frameworks of protest in Islamic governance, and how should a religious government confront protests?" To answer this main question, using library research and referring to existing resources, and within the framework of a fundamentalist analysis, first, the issue of protest in the era of the infallible Imam is examined, and then this issue is addressed in the period of occultation and its differences from the time of the presence and governance of the infallible Imam.

2. Literature Review

In the Political Science Quarterly, only one article by Khajeh Sarvi and Hosseini (2018) titled "The Dichotomy of Political Protest and Political Stability in the Islamic Republic of Iran" has thematic proximity to the present research, which seeks to provide solutions for the conflict between political protest and political stability in the Islamic Republic of Iran as an objective and real issue needed by society and the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Additionally, Talebani (2020) in the article "Religiosity and the Potential for Political Protest" discusses the role of individual religiosity in the potential for political protest. Ultimately, the author states that the potential for political protest among the respondents of the research sample was independent of their religiosity. Furthermore, Amini and Omidi (2023) in the article "Semantic Evolution of Slogans from Protests of the Last Three Decades in the Sphere of Political Discourses" write that in 1999, compared to other years, the diagnostic framework of the protesters regarding the lack of cohesion in the political structure was established, in 2009 concerning the failure to realize political values, and in 2017 and 2019 regarding the structural aspects of the political system.





3. Methodology

This research is of an applied nature and has been conducted with a descriptive-analytical approach (referring to historical documents). At the same time, an effort has been made to first clarify the foundations within the framework of a foundational analysis so that the frameworks and boundaries can be specified. Here, foundationalism is a term related to theories of epistemology, according to which knowledge must rely on justified belief or some other certain principles.



6. Conclusion

The results of this research indicate that, contrary to the infallible government, in a non-infallible government, dissent and criticism are permissible, provided that they do not lead to actions such as disobedience, chaos, and overthrowing the system based on the two principles of maintaining the system or negating disruption of the system, and preventing the delegitimization of the leader of the Islamic community. At the same time, it was stated that the primary principle in dealing with verbal criticisms is tolerance and endurance, but in cases where dissent leads to social division and disrupts social cohesion, the government has the authorization to respond to these dissenting voices in a non-violent manner, and there is not always an agreement on tolerating criticisms. It was also stated that mere suspicion, doubt, and conjecture cannot justify negative and security-based actions against individuals and groups; however, the notion that a violent movement must begin for the government to take violent action against rioters is also an incorrect interpretation