Epistemic Safeguarding Theory in the Domain of Buḍʿ: With Emphasis on Its Pillars and Inferential Foundations

Abstract

The domain of buḍʿ in Imami jurisprudence is an area in which marital rights and obligations, chastity, modesty, family well-being, and moral order intersect. A central issue in this field concerns the relationship between the need for knowledge of sexual rights and legal obligations, on the one hand, and the religious and ethical constraints governing the communication of sensitive matters, on the other. Using a descriptive-analytical method with a jurisprudential and inferential approach, this study formulates an “Epistemic Safeguarding Theory in the Domain of Buḍʿ” and explains its principal pillars and inferential foundations. According to this theory, whenever the absence of necessary knowledge concerning lawful sexual relations, marital rights, duties, and boundaries creates a reasonable probability of sin, violation of rights, family harm, or disruption of the marital relationship, the acquisition and proportionate transmission of such knowledge may assume a safeguarding function. The findings indicate that the theory rests on three main pillars: prevention of probable harm arising from epistemic deficiency, priority of safeguarding over silence motivated by modesty in cases of genuine conflict, and management of sexual instinct through regulated knowledge. Its principal inferential foundations include the duty to protect oneself and one’s family, preservation of social order, the relationship between knowledge and marital rights and obligations, the duty to acquire necessary legal knowledge, and the doctrine of necessary preliminaries to obligations. The theory does not justify unrestricted sexual education; rather, it limits the transmission of knowledge by necessity, proportionality, sufficiency, modesty, chastity, and avoidance of corruption. It therefore offers a jurisprudential framework for reconciling necessary knowledge with the protection of moral and familial values.