Some Jurisprudential Questions
To the Honorable Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Muslims of the World
After greetings and respects,
An old adage says that a rented donkey should be ridden sideways! Meaning, when a donkey does not belong to us and is rented for a limited time, we should ride it in such a way that, when it’s time to dismount, we are ready to get off swiftly, without procrastination, and not keep the donkey’s owner waiting.
However, if we ride the rented donkey by sitting on it as if it were our own, we may become attached to it and hesitate when it’s time to dismount. We might even cling our legs to the donkey’s sides from both sides, looking for excuses to avoid getting off.
In other words, the rented donkey essentially does not belong to us; it is public property, a trust given by people. Whenever it is time to return this trust, and the owner demands it back or is unwilling to let us keep it longer, if we claim to understand people’s rights, we should respect the rights of the donkey’s owner. We should not assume permanent entitlement to the privileges of the donkey.
Now, if the donkey’s owner needs it back and the rider has developed an attachment and dependency on the donkey, with no plan to part from it, what then is the owner’s responsibility?
I ask you, as a learned jurist, if the owner finds themselves in such a situation, should they relinquish their rights, or should they think of a way to remove the rider from the donkey?
If the rider is not easily removed from the donkey, and the owner devises a plan to overthrow the rider, is this considered improper conduct?
In your opinion, is overthrowing in such cases a crime?
In such scenarios, from a religious perspective, is the owner allowed to resort to violence to remove the rider from their donkey?
Is the owner justified in fighting to reclaim the donkey, which belongs to them and to which they are entitled, while the rider refuses to return it in any way?
In this case, should the owner’s fight against the rider be a hard confrontation or a soft one, religiously?
Thank you sincerely for attentively and patiently reading and responding to these questions.
Yours sincerely,
Mohammad Mahdavifar
Deminer and Diver of the Iran-Iraq War
24th Shahrivar 1397 [September 15, 2018]
Isfahan Central Prison