Mutual Responsibilities of the People and the State in Culture: Advanced Seminary Course (Dars-i Khārij) by Ayatollah Mohsen Araki
CATEGORIES: By Course: Advanced Seminary Course in Contemporary Jurisprudence | By Center: Qom
BYLINE: Sayyid Ahmad Mousavi Nasab
Key Details
| Course Title | Advanced Seminary Course in Contemporary Jurisprudence: The Jurisprudence of Culture, Mutual Responsibilities of the People and the State in Social Culture · Original title: فقه فرهنگ: مسئولیتهای متقابل مردم و حاکمیت در عرصه فرهنگ اجتماعی |
| Instructor | Ayatollah Mohsen Araki |
| Language of Instruction | Persian |
| Base Text | Thematic (no base text) |
| Schedule | Thursdays, 10–11 a.m. Tehran time (UTC+3:30) |
| Started | September 25, 2025 (3 Mehr 1404 SH) |
| Venue | Sayyid al-Shuhada Teaching Hall, Imam Husayn Mosque, Qom
Eram Street, Alley 20, first side street |
| Attendance | Seminary students at khārij level |
| Status | Ongoing (as of October 5, 2026) |
| Archive & Official Website | Audio and transcripts of the 1404–1405 SH sessions (Persian; MP3 and PDF): https://edu.riicj.com/lessons/%d9%81%d9%82%d9%87-%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%87%d9%86%da%af-6/
Sessions of the 1405–1406 SH seminary year, on the instructor’s official website: https://mohsenaraki.ir/fa/lessons/1 Official website: https://mohsenaraki.ir/fa |
| Information Checked | October 5, 2026 |
Overview
Since September 2025, Ayatollah Mohsen Araki has taught an Advanced Seminary Course (dars-i khārij) in Qom on the jurisprudence of culture (fiqh-i farhang). The course is taught in Persian, in weekly sessions held at the Sayyid al-Shuhada Teaching Hall of the Imam Husayn Mosque. It examines what duties Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) assigns to the people and to the state in shaping the culture of society, and what each owes the other in this sphere. The subject matters because governments, institutions and believers today make practical decisions about culture whose religious status is in question.
About the Course
The Subject
Culture (farhang) is commonly described as the set of values, norms, attitudes and patterns of behavior that shape how people deal with one another and with the institutions of society. Its quality affects trust, respect for the rights of others, a sense of responsibility, respect for the law and the cohesion of society. A desirable culture does not arise only from the spontaneous behavior of individuals. It depends on a number of social actors, chief among them the people and the institutions of government. The people shape culture through their everyday conduct, their part in social life, their respect for the rights of others and the values they pass on. The state (ḥākimiyyat) shapes it through policy, legislation, education, cultural infrastructure and the social conditions it creates. The relation between the two is therefore mutual: if either neglects its responsibilities, the culture of society is affected. These responsibilities may also have a jurisprudential dimension, and this is the subject of the course.
Why the Subject Needs a Jurisprudential Discussion
Governments today make policy on education, the media, the arts and public conduct, and individuals and institutions take part in shaping culture every day. Believers therefore ask whether the duties of the people and of the state toward the culture of society are religious obligations with rulings of their own, or only matters of good administration. Classical fiqh addresses parts of this question in separate chapters, such as those on government and on enjoining good and forbidding wrong. The course brings these questions together and asks, for each party, what it is obliged to do in the sphere of culture and what ruling applies to it.
Place in the Tradition
The course places the subject in the chapters of fiqh on government (ḥukūma) and on authority (wilāya), which deal with the powers and duties of those who govern. It also takes up the duty of enjoining good and forbidding wrong (al-amr bi-l-maʿrūf wa-l-nahy ʿan al-munkar) as a means of shaping culture.
Method and Evidence
Ayatollah Araki first states his own conclusion on each question and then sets out the evidence for it: Qurʾanic evidence first, then evidence from hadith, and finally, where there is one, an argument from reason (ʿaql).
Key Questions
- What is the place of the ruler (ḥākim) in the culture of society: is he obliged to carry out cultural work himself, or to lead and direct it?
- What duties does the state have in building culture, in countering what the course calls “wrong cultures”, and in responding to social anomalies?
- What culture are the state and the people obliged to promote in society?
- What is the ruling on enjoining good and forbidding wrong as a means of shaping culture?
- What is the ruling on imitation (taqlīd), in the sense of following social models, in the transmission of culture, and how may the state make use of it?
- What duties do the state and the people owe each other in the sphere of culture?
Positions Discussed
In the course, Ayatollah Araki argues from three Qurʾanic verses that God gave instructions both to the prophets and to the people for establishing a God-given culture in society. The verses are Qurʾan 7:35 (“O Children of Adam, if messengers come to you from among yourselves, recounting My signs to you, then whoever is mindful of God and sets things right will have no fear, nor will they grieve”), 5:109 (“The day God will gather the messengers and say, ‘What response did you receive?’”) and 28:65 (“And the day He will call to them and say, ‘What answer did you give the messengers?’”). On his reading, the prophets were sent to tell people what culture to hold, and the people were told to follow them; God will then ask the prophets, as the leaders of society, whether the people listened to them, and ask the people whether they listened to the prophets. From this he argues that the duties of the people and of the state toward culture need to be examined in jurisprudence.
Progress So Far
In the 1404–1405 SH seminary year, the course met on Thursdays from September 25, 2025 to January 29, 2026; the official archive lists 13 sessions for that year, all under the title “Mutual Responsibilities of the People and the State in the Sphere of Social Culture.” The course resumed under the same title for the 1405–1406 SH seminary year on October 1, 2026 (9 Mehr 1405 SH), according to the instructor’s official website, and was ongoing as of October 5, 2026.
About Advanced Seminary Courses
The Advanced Seminary Course (dars-i khārij; baḥth al-khārij in Najaf) is the highest level of study in the Shiʿi seminaries (ḥawza). It follows the textual stage (suṭūḥ), in which students read and explain set textbooks. At the khārij level a qualified jurist (mujtahid) examines a single subject in depth, often over several years and in sessions held on most days of the week. For each question he examines the evidence from the accepted sources of Islamic jurisprudence, namely the Book (the Qurʾan), the Sunna (the words and practice of the Prophet and the Imams), reason (ʿaql) and consensus (ijmāʿ), together with the views of earlier scholars. He weighs their arguments and argues for his own conclusion by the method of ijtihād, the independent derivation of rulings from these sources. Some teachers take a classic work as the starting point of the discussion and examine the other major works and views alongside it. Students prepare for each session, review it with one another (mubāḥatha) and often write up the lectures as transcripts (taqrīrāt). The courses are usually taught in Persian in Iran and in Arabic in Iraq.
About the Instructor
Ayatollah Mohsen Araki (Mohsen Mohammadi Araqi, known as Araki) was born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1334 SH (1955–1956). His father, Shaykh Habibollah Araki, taught in the seminary of Najaf.
He received his primary education at the Muntada al-Nashr school in Najaf and began his seminary studies in 1968–1969 (1347 SH). He studied the preliminary subjects and the textual stage (suṭūḥ) with his father and other teachers in Najaf. After completing the suṭūḥ in 1974–1975 (1353 SH), he attended the Advanced Seminary Course in Jurisprudence of Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei and the Advanced Seminary Courses in Jurisprudence and Principles of Jurisprudence of Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr. In 1975–1976 (1354 SH) he moved to Qom. There he attended, for four years, the Advanced Seminary Course in Jurisprudence of Ayatollah Mirza Kazem Tabrizi, and the Advanced Seminary Courses in Jurisprudence and Principles of Jurisprudence of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid Khorasani and Ayatollah Sayyid Kazem Haeri. In Qom he also studied philosophy: parts of al-Asfar al-Arbaʿa with Grand Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli and Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, and Nihayat al-Hikma with Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi. In 2012 he received a PhD in comparative philosophy from the University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom, with a thesis titled Freedom and Causality in Contemporary Islamic & Western Philosophy.
He teaches Advanced Seminary Courses in Jurisprudence and Principles of Jurisprudence in the seminary of Qom, as well as courses in Qurʾanic exegesis and hadith studies (as of October 2026). He is a member of the Supreme Council of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought (as of October 2026). From 2012 to 2019 (1391–1398 SH) he served as secretary of its Supreme Council and head of the Forum.
Selected Works
- Fiqh-i Farhang (The Jurisprudence of Culture), Andisha-yi Nab-i Mandagar.
- Fiqh-i Nizam-i Banki (The Jurisprudence of the Banking System), Andisha-yi Nab-i Mandagar, 2023–2024 (1402 SH).
- Fiqh-i Nizam-i Iqtisadi-yi Islam (The Jurisprudence of the Economic System of Islam), Majmaʿ al-Fikr al-Islami, 2021–2022 (1400 SH).
- Fiqh-i Nizam-i Siyasi-yi Islam (The Jurisprudence of the Political System of Islam), Andisha-yi Nab-i Mandagar, 2014–2015 (1393 SH).
- Usul-i Fiqh-i Nizam (The Principles of the Jurisprudence of Systems), Andisha-yi Nab-i Mandagar, 2023–2024 (1402 SH).
- Fiqh-i ʿUmran-i Shahri (The Jurisprudence of Urban Development), Andisha-yi Nab-i Mandagar, 2021–2022 (1400 SH).
- Nazariyya-yi Shinakht (The Theory of Knowledge), Nashr-i Maʿarif, 2014–2015 (1393 SH).
- Daramadi bar ʿIrfan-i Islami (An Introduction to Islamic Mysticism), Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, 2011–2012 (1390 SH).
Related Courses
- Other Courses by This Teacher: The Authority of Conjecture: Advanced Seminary Course (Dars-i Khārij) by Ayatollah Mohsen Araki AT UPLOAD: link to the Tolou post
This introduction was published by Tolou International Institute on AT UPLOAD: publication date, based on the instructor’s official sources as checked on October 5, 2026. Tolou does not organize or broadcast this course. Times, venues and topics may change, and seminary courses usually pause during holidays such as the summer break and the month of Ramadan; please confirm details through the official sources. Views presented in an Advanced Seminary Course are part of a scholarly discussion and are not necessarily the instructor’s formal legal opinion (fatwa).
