The Role of Jurisprudence in the Appearance and Evolution of Twelvers Shiite’s Identity

Identity as a concept that implies the similarities of people within a group, folk, and nation, and as a result their differences toward others, nowadays is investigated in different fields of social sciences, according to its cultural, political, and economical structures and impacts. One aspect is religious identity that has Shariā (in its special sense) as principle of its behavior. The research, taking into account the Imamites’ belief on twelve Imams and their all ـ inclusive authority, using a descriptive ـ analytic method, and relied on library documents, notes the characteristics of identity and emphasizes Imamites’ jurisprudence‘s quality of identity ـ creating and its authenticity; which is contrary to the idea of uniting Sufism and Shiism. The research also tries to examine the properties and internal capabilities of Imamites’ jurisprudence in creating Shiite’s identity, and also to examine the role of jurisprudential principles in appearance and evolution of Shiite’s identity in different dimensions (religious, political, economic, judicial), and ahead challenges. Some findings of the research are as follows: The variety of causes that build identity in Imamites’ jurisprudence, expanding and promoting identity arenas from an individual jurisprudential identity to a social and civilized one, simultaneous with the expansion of the authority of Imamites’ jurisprudence.