کثرت‌گرایی فقهی، الگوی پایه برای تأسیس و توسعه کثرت‌گرایی دینی

Jurisprudential pluralism, as one of the most consequential theoretical achievements in the history of Islamic thought, raises a fundamental question: can this paradigm be extended beyond the domain of jurisprudence (fiqh) into the spheres of doctrine (iʿtiqādāt) and speculative theology (kalām)? Employing an analytical–comparative method, the present study examines the epistemological and theological foundations of the doctrines of juristic fallibility (takhṭiʾa, prevalent in the Imami tradition) and juristic infallibility (taṣwīb, the position affirming the correctness of every qualified mujtahid, prevalent in the Sunni tradition), and advances two principal arguments. First, jurisprudential pluralism—insofar as it is predicated upon the theory of takhṭiʾa—is rooted in the recognition that the jurist (faqīh) is liable to error notwithstanding the methodological rigor of his endeavor. Second, the rational grounds undergirding takhṭiʾa—among them the distinction between truth itself and the apprehension of truth, the principle of divine justice (the rational repugnance of punishment in the absence of prior declaration (qubḥ al-ʿiqāb bilā bayān)), the concept of authoritativeness (ḥujjiyya) as binding (munajjiz) and excusing (muʿadhdhir), and the fallibility of the non-infallible persons—are susceptible of extension to the doctrinal domain. The taṣwīb position, by contrast, lacks such capacity for extension on account of its relativist entailments and the rational impasses it generates—chief among them the conjunction of contradictories (ijtimāʿ al-naqīḍayn) and preference without a preponderating ground (tarjīḥ bilā murajjiḥ). The study's central finding is that, on the basis of the ethics of belief and a theistic ethics, the speculative theologian (mutakallim), no less than the jurist, having exhausted his epistemic capacity, is—in the event of unintentional error—excused (maʿdhūr) and in possession of an authoritative proof (ḥujja). This approach, while safeguarding the singular truth of religion, lays the groundwork for constructive dialogue and peaceful coexistence among the Islamic schools of thought in the contemporary age.