Comparison and assessment of Five schools of jurisprudence’s approaches about “the Important and the More important” principle and It’s matching cases

The principle of “the important and the more important” is relied upon in the main five Islamic jurisprudential denominations and its basis is comprised of reasons and essentials that have been mentioned for its authoritativeness. All five denominations believe in the actuality of this principle and the necessity of choosing the more important when rulings congest, but their religious reasons and bases are different; they have commonalities in the Book and traditions, but have disagreements in other reasons such as consensus, intellect, comparison, juristic preference, consideration of public interest, and prohibition of what may lead to committing sins. Among Twelver Shia, this principle has been discussed in “congestion of rulings”, “successive order”, “consideration of public interest”,  and “coincidence of command and prevention”. In addition, it has been discussed implicitly or introductorily in “conflict” and “using command to mean prevention of the opposite”, and is related to issues and principles such as “no injury”, “primary and secondary rulings”, “government and entrance”, “precautionary concealment”, and “new questions”. In Sunni denominations, principles such as “no injury” is one of the aspects of “the important and the more important” principle, and is also discussed in discussions including “consideration of public interest”, “comparison”, “juristic preference”, “priority”, “conflict”, “balancing the individual and societal rights”, “state jurisprudence”, and “necessity”. Moreover, this principle is applied in the discussion of the “benefits and evils”.  The main points and usages of this principle in denominations include preservation of Islam, safeguarding the state, sheltering the family institution, establishment of justice, protection of Islamic lands, maintenance of Muslims’ honor and independence, preservation of religiosity and spirituality in the society, protection of humans’ lives, public security, and protection of the social dignity of humans and Muslims.

Finally, concerning the terminological meaning of “the important and the more important” which is represented in the aforementioned reasons and bases, it has been concluded that the five denominations share the view that this principle should be discussed under the congestion topic. With regard to congestion, consideration of benefits and evils, successive order of the rulings, time, and place are among issues that clarify the “importance” principle.