Paradigm Shift in Twelver Shi'i Legal Theory (uṣūl al-fiqh): Ayatullah Yusef Saanei

[...] if it is the mother who is summoning the child, then the directive is that she should interrupt the recommended ritual prayer and respond to her mother.60 Ayatullah Saanei makes use of this new epistemology and hermeneutic strategies when dealing with other issues pertaining to present-day society as well, such as the legality or prohibition of interest (riba) and use of gambling (qumar) instruments, minority rights, religious pluralism, bio-medical ethics, right of a wife to unilaterally divorce her husband, permissibility of women to occupy the position of judges or the highest religious post, and the age at which a person would become religiously accountable (mukallaf) and able to transact a marriage.61 Conclusion In the works of Ayatullah Saanei, one observes a major epistemological shift in the Twelver Shi'i legal theory by privileging the Qur'an, empowering reason as a legitimate source to discover the rationale or ratio legis of a legal directive and mindful that legal rulings were issued based on a particular context of time (zamdn) and space (makan) and, as such, lack universal applicability for all times and places.