An Explanation of the Network of Rights and Responsibilities in Education from the Perspective of Educational Jurisprudence

Introduction and Objectives: Islamic studies in education are essential due to the significance of a localized and Islamic perspective. Educational jurisprudence is an emerging field within Islamic educational research, emphasizing the necessity of systematic studies for deriving a coherent educational system. This requires moving beyond an individualized jurisprudential approach. Being inherently social, education has evolved into an institutional, cultural, and even governmental concern in contemporary times. What, then, are the implications of this view for educational jurisprudence? A holistic and systematic approach to educational jurisprudence is imperative. A fundamental question arises: Is education the responsibility of a specific entity, or is it a collective obligation? Is education a religious duty, regarded as one of the most significant principles of Sharia that cannot be neglected ("lā yardhā al-shāriʻ bi-tarkihi" "the lawgiver is not content with its abandonment")? Can the legal educational rulings, viewed systemically and networked, be organized to extract a model for educational governance?
The core questions addressed in this study are as follows: 1. Who are the responsible agents for education (as a social function) within society, according to educational jurisprudence? 2. What is the level of obligation and preference for the educational responsibilities of each agent/actor/? 3. What are the mutual responsibilities of these agents/actors toward one another? 4. Can these responsibilities be structured into a network of rights and duties? This study addresses questions 1 and 2 in the first section and questions 3 and 4 in the second.
Method: The research method in this study is descriptive-inferential. The researcher employs jurisprudential and inferential methods, referred to as "educational jurisprudence," to uncover the rights, responsibilities, and rulings on education. Additionally, analytical and deductive methods are utilized to identify and structure the alignment of the derived rulings and to map out the network of educational rights and responsibilities.
Findings: Detailed analyses reveal that education is entrusted to several societal entities: the family, elites, the general public, and the government. Thus, education is a duty shared among parents, scholars, rulers, and the community. This study briefly outlines the primary evidence supporting the educational duties of these groups. It concludes that education holds such prominence in Islamic jurisprudence that it is never without a custodian. Simultaneously, education is obligatory for parents and rulers and recommended or occasionally obligatory for scholars and the masses. The study also highlights that, alongside this educational responsibility or guardianship, certain hierarchical and subsidiary authorities can also be conceptualized through mechanisms such as agency, causation, delegation, and guardianship. Ultimately, a vertical and horizontal network of educational rulings emerges, encompassing families, scholars, rulers, and the public, providing a foundation for developing an educational governance model that shares educational authority.
Discussion and Conclusion: This study explains the network of educational rights and responsibilities within educational jurisprudence by addressing four primary questions. In the first section, the educational obligations of the general public, scholars, rulers, and families were determined, and their respective levels of obligation or recommendation were deduced. In the second section, the relationships between the evidence and general principles of education for these four categories of actors were analyzed, formulating an interconnected vertical and horizontal network of educational rights and responsibilities. The findings demonstrate that education is an essential responsibility ("lā yardhā al-shāriʻ bi-tarkihi") that is permanently assigned to someone within society, either in a sequential (hierarchical) or simultaneous (parallel) manner.
The implications of this network lie in enabling the active and secondary roles of families, community institutions, and elites in formal and informal education, a responsibility ultimately overseen by the government. The governance of education in the Islamic Republic of Iran has faced challenges, especially in its formal, school-based dimensions. Participation from families and other stakeholders in educational governance remains essential and deserves further exploration. Reviving hierarchical and parallel educational guardianships rooted in Islamic jurisprudence can address issues like those observed during the unrest in 2022, where many detainees were reported to have an average age of 15. This situation reflects the weakening or elimination of educational guardianships within families, neighborhoods, and communities, leading to law enforcement and judicial intervention as a last resort. Enhancing the role of educational guardianships—such as family elders, neighborhood mosque leaders, reformist teachers, and academic scholars—is critical. Modern social structures, influenced by liberal ideologies institutionalized through media in Iranian society, often undermine such roles.