Women's Social Participation According to Ayatollah Mutahhari's Theory of Justice

This article investigates Ayatollah Murtada Mutahhari's understanding of the principle of justice and its impact on women's social participation. Mutahhari (1919-1979) is one of the foremost thinkers of contemporary Iran who proposed a new theoretical foundation for the study of women's rights based on rational -philosophical principles. Treating justice and natural rights as meta-jurisprudential principles, he supported women's public life. Although many studies have been conducted on Mutahhari's views about women's rights, which have made significant contributions to the study of Mutahhari's thought in terms of describing and examining his arguments, my research has certain distinguishing features. In particular, I consider Mutahhari's philosophical methodology of writing on gender-related issues, specifically his approach to the principle of justice in his ijtihad methodology because I believe his ideas are significant outcomes of his rational methodology of ijtihad. In addition, most studies on Mutahhari's position on women's issues tend to focus on his views about women's familial rights, while his contribution to women's public life is ignored. This study reveals that by adopting Mutahhari's views of the principle of justice and its position on Islamic jurisprudence, different understandings of women's social participation could be developed.