Course Overview
Instructor: Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Ali Nahavandi Academic Year: 2025–2026 (1404–1405 SH) Schedule: Mondays, 11:00 AM Location: No. 12, Alley 1, Meytham Tammar Street, Meytham (Sallariyeh) Square, Qom, Iran Course Link: https://doroos.feqhemoaser.com Section: Media Jurisprudence (Fiqh-e Resaneh)
About the Course
The unprecedented expansion of digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and algorithm-driven communication systems has transformed the landscape of human interaction, creating novel legal questions that extend beyond the scope of classical juristic discussions. As algorithmic systems increasingly determine the dissemination of information, shape public opinion, regulate online engagement, and influence individual and collective behavior, they have become one of the most significant contemporary issues (al-masāʾil al-mustaḥdatha) facing Islamic jurisprudence. This course examines these developments within the broader framework of the Jurisprudence of Modern Communications, while focusing specifically on the Jurisprudence of Algorithms (Fiqh al-Algorithms) as its principal field of inquiry.
Unlike approaches that treat emerging technologies as isolated legal questions, this course adopts a problem-oriented methodology aimed at transforming algorithms into a coherent juristic subject (mawḍūʿ fiqhī). Rather than establishing an independent branch of jurisprudence for every technological development, it situates algorithmic studies within the discipline of communication jurisprudence, reflecting the profound influence that algorithms now exercise over contemporary media and communication systems. Particular attention is devoted to the legal implications of artificial intelligence, large language models, social media platforms, digital governance, cyberspace, and emerging virtual environments, where algorithmic decision-making increasingly shapes access to knowledge, public discourse, and social interaction.
A central objective of the course is to reaffirm the capacity of classical Imami jurisprudence to address unprecedented contemporary realities without compromising its established methodology. The course emphasizes that authentic legal reasoning cannot be reduced to the repetitive application of general legal maxims or broad ethical principles. Instead, it requires rigorous ijtihad based upon the recognized sources of Islamic law — the Qur’an, the Sunna, reason (ʿaql), and consensus (ijma’) — through the systematic process of deriving subsidiary rulings from foundational legal principles. Within this framework, jurisprudence is presented as a dynamic discipline capable of investigating newly emerging legal subjects while remaining firmly rooted in the principles of uṣūl al-fiqh.
Methodologically, the course introduces students to the essential pillars of juristic inquiry: jurisprudential foundations (mabānī), the authoritative sources of legal deduction (manābiʿ), the identification of legally relevant subjects (masāʾil al-fiqh), and juristic methodology (manhaj al-fiqh). Through these interconnected components, participants examine how contemporary technological phenomena acquire legal significance and how appropriate Sharia rulings are established through disciplined legal analysis. The course further emphasizes that fiqh is fundamentally a normative and prescriptive system whose purpose extends beyond issuing legal verdicts to providing practical mechanisms for implementing divine guidance within society.
An interdisciplinary perspective further distinguishes this course. Alongside classical jurisprudential analysis, students are introduced to major theories of communication, including the Transmission and Interactional paradigms, in order to understand how contemporary communication has evolved from the mere exchange of information into a complex process of constructing shared social meaning. Within this context, algorithms are examined not simply as technical instruments but as powerful mechanisms that organize digital environments, prioritize information, influence public consciousness, regulate media visibility, and shape the architecture of modern communication itself. Consequently, the legal analysis of algorithms becomes indispensable for any comprehensive jurisprudence of contemporary media.
Employing an inferential-comparative methodology, the course critically evaluates the legal questions arising from algorithmic governance, artificial intelligence, digital media, and emerging communication technologies. Throughout the lectures, students are encouraged to engage with these issues through authentic Imami legal reasoning while remaining attentive to the intellectual, social, and technological realities of the modern world. Ultimately, the course seeks to cultivate a problem-solving jurisprudence capable of identifying new legal subjects, analyzing their implications, and deriving carefully reasoned Sharia rulings that respond effectively to the challenges of the digital age.
About the Instructor
Professor Hojjat al-Islam Dr. Ali Nahavandi is one of Iran’s foremost contemporary scholars in Islamic jurisprudence, legal theory, philosophy of communication, and media studies. He currently serves as President of the Islamic Parliament Research Center (IPRC) of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran). He completed the highest level of traditional seminary education (khārij) under several eminent Shi’i Grand Ayatollahs, including Ayatollah Jawad Tabrizi, Ayatollah Sayyid Kazim al-Haeri, Ayatollah Abdullah Jawadi Amoli, Ayatollah Wahid Khorasani, and Ayatollah Sayyid Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, among numerous other distinguished scholars. Alongside his advanced seminary education, he earned a Ph.D. in Islamic Philosophy and Theology.
Scholarly Contributions
With more than twenty-five (25) years of teaching experience in the seminaries of Qom and Mashhad and at numerous leading Iranian universities, Professor Nahavandi has established himself as a leading authority in advanced jurisprudence (khārij fiqh), principles of jurisprudence (khārij uṣūl al-fiqh), philosophy, communication studies, and the jurisprudence of emerging technologies. His scholarly output includes more than thirty (30) authored books, over forty (40) peer-reviewed academic articles, the supervision of numerous graduate theses, and the editorship of specialized academic journals. Widely recognized for integrating the traditional methodology of Imami ijtihad with interdisciplinary research in media, cyberspace, and artificial intelligence, he is regarded as one of the pioneering scholars advancing the field of contemporary Islamic jurisprudence in response to the legal challenges of the digital era.
