Chehabi Publishes Article on the Malleability of Sharia
Houchang Chehabi, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an article in the Turkish journal Yemek ve Kültür titled “Havyar nasıl helâl oldu” (How Caviar Turned out to be Halal).
As Chehabi details, caviar has always been a major export for Iran, but according to the Shiite sharia its consumption was forbidden (haram) since only fish with scales are considered allowed. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, state policy had to conform to the sharia. Faced with the loss of export earnings, religious authorities took a close look at the sturgeon, and determined, with the help of zoologists, that it did indeed have scales, wherefore the fish and its roe were reclassified as allowed (halal), allowing for exports to resume. Chehabi argues that this demonstrates the malleability of the sharia.
An excerpt:
While the decision to declare sturgeon to be halal fish broke with tradition, this break was not as cynical as critics of the Iranian theocracy made it out to be at the time. Although admittedly motivated by practical considerations, the reasoning was precise and honest, and the final conclusion that ganoid scales meet the criteria laid out for fals represents a legitimate use of power of ijtihad, i.e., interpreting Islamic law, claimed by the Twelver Shiite clergy.
The full article can be read online.
Houchang Chehabi has taught at Harvard and has been a visiting professor at the University of St. Andrews, UCLA, and the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. He has published two books, Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran under the Shah and Khomeini (1990) and Distant Relations: Iran and Lebanon in the Last 500 Years (2006). Chehabi has written numerous articles, book reviews, and translations. You can read more about him here.