Quran, Culture And Civilization

Quran, Culture And Civilization

Qurʾanic Foundations, Limits, and Manifestations of Bodily Privacy

Authors
maryam sadat sajjadi jazi 1
Amir Ahmadnejad 2
mahdi habibolahi 3
1 PhD student OF Quran and tradition, Isf.c. Islamic Azad University ,Esfahan,Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Sciences, Faculty of Theology and Ahl al-Bayt (AS) Studies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Baqer Al-Uloom University, Qom,Iran
10.22034/jksl.2025.517672.1458
Abstract
Despite the growing body of scholarship on privacy and related rights in ethical and legal studies, the concept of bodily privacy has remained largely unexplored within a Qurʾanic framework and from an analytical perspective. Most existing studies have approached the subject either from a legal and jurisprudential standpoint or have defined it primarily in biological and physical terms. By contrast, the Holy Qurʾan presents a deeper, multilayered, and value-oriented understanding of the human body. Accordingly, the present study seeks to clarify the concept of bodily privacy from the perspective of the Qurʾan, with particular emphasis on its three foundational dimensions. Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, the research draws upon Qurʾanic commentaries, hadith literature, and Islamic ethical studies for the collection and analysis of data. The findings demonstrate that bodily privacy in the Qurʾanic worldview rests upon three interrelated categories of foundations. The first consists of ontological foundations, which emphasize God's absolute ownership of the human body and humanity's conditional trusteeship over its use. The second comprises anthropological foundations, according to which the human body is the locus for the manifestation of reason, free will, and human dignity. The third includes axiological foundations, in which values such as modesty, the prohibition of bodily harm, and individual responsibility provide the ethical basis for bodily privacy. Consequently, bodily privacy in Qurʾanic discourse should be understood not merely as an individual right but as an integral component of human servitude to God and of the ethical structure of the Islamic community

Graphical Abstract

Qurʾanic Foundations, Limits, and Manifestations of Bodily Privacy
Keywords
bodily privacy
human dignity
ontological foundations
anthropological foundations
bodily responsibility
Subjects
The Holy Qurʾan (M. M. Fooladvand, Trans.).
Ibn ʿĀshūr, M. al-Ṭ. (1999). Al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr. Al-Dār al-Tūnisiyyah lil-Nashr. [In Arabic]
Ibn Manẓūr, M. (1993). Lisān al-ʿArab. Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic]
Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. (2005). Iranian National Commission for UNESCO. [In Persian]
Amīn, N. B. (n.d.). Makhzan al-ʿIrfān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. n.p. [In Arabic]
Dehkhoda, A. A. (1999). Dehkhoda Dictionary. University of Tehran Press. [In Persian]
Jamshidi, A., Hosseini, S. M. A., & Forouzandeh, P. (2023). An analysis of Article 567 of the Islamic Penal Code with a comparative study of the legal system of England. Judicial Legal Perspectives, 27(99), 77–100. [In Persian]
Javer, H. (2020). Qurʾanic foundations of spatial privacy. Qurʾan, Fiqh and Islamic Law Quarterly, 10(10), 109–137. [In Persian]
Jawadi Amoli, A. (2021). Tafsir-e Tasnim. Esra Publication Center. [In Persian]
Hosseini Hamedani, M. (2025). Anvār-e Derakhshān dar Tafsir-e Qurʾan. Lotfi Publications. [In Persian]
Khaki, M., Mohaqeq Damad, S. M., & Dargahi, M. (2024). Qurʾanic foundations and the principles governing the legitimacy of state surveillance over privacy. Qurʾanic Studies, 14(54), 189–208. [In Persian]
Khomeini, R. (2000). Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah. Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works. [In Persian]
Al-Daylamī, Ḥ. ibn M. (1992). Irshād al-Qulūb ilā al-Ṣawāb. Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī. [In Arabic]
Zaker, F., Mostarahmi, S. E., & Ghazanfari, A. (2025). Foundations of citizenship rights in the perspective of contemporary Qurʾanic scholars with emphasis on the views of Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi. Qurʾan and Social Sciences, 4(15), 118–137. [In Persian]
Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥ. (1984). Al-Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Qalam. [In Arabic]
Rao, S. (2000). Bioethics in the Light of Human Rights (S. Hosseini, Trans.). Institute for Culture and Islamic Thought. [In Persian]
Sajadi, M., Ahmadnejad, A., & Habibollahi, M. (2023). An analysis of the Qurʾanic concept of istiʾnās in Sūrat al-Nūr based on the views of Qurʾanic exegetes. Qurʾan, Culture and Civilization Quarterly, 4(1), 107–130. [In Persian]
Quṭb, S. (2004). Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Shurūq. [In Arabic]
Shahbaz Ghahfarrokhi, M. (2014). Privacy in Iranian Criminal Law. Mizan Publications. [In Persian]
Shahriari, M. (2021). Body, Self, and Politics: A Study of the Concept of the Body in Islamic Jurisprudence. Institute for Culture and Islamic Thought. [In Persian]
Al-Ṣadr, M. B. (2000). Al-Islām Yaqūd al-Ḥayāh: Al-Madrasah al-Islāmiyyah – Risālatunā. Markaz al-Abḥāth wa al-Dirāsāt al-Takhaṣṣuṣiyyah lil-Shahīd al-Ṣadr. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṣadūq, M. ibn ʿA. (1983). Al-Khiṣāl. Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī, M. Ḥ. (1969). Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Jāmiʿat al-Mudarrisīn. [In Arabic]
Al-Ṭūsī, M. ibn Ḥ. (n.d.). Al-Tibyān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Maktabat al-Iḥyāʾ al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Abbasi, M., Khaleghi, A., & Joudaki, B. (2012). Patients' privacy and criminal protection in the Iranian legal system. Medical Law Journal, 5(17), 131–140. [In Persian]
Amid, H. (1983). Amid Dictionary. Amir Kabir Publications. [In Persian]
Gholami, A. (2014). Hijab at the intersection of privacy and public rights. Legal Studies of the Islamic State, 2(4), 117–133. [In Persian]
Fakhr al-Rāzī, M. ibn ʿU. (1999). Al-Tafsīr al-Kabīr. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic]
Al-Farāhīdī, K. ibn A. (1989). Al-ʿAyn. Dār al-Hijrah. [In Arabic]
Al-Kulaynī, M. ibn Y. (1986). Al-Kāfī. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah. [In Arabic]
Al-Majlisī, M. B. (1983). Biḥār al-Anwār. Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ. [In Arabic]
Mohammadkhani, H. (2025). A jurisprudential analysis of the right over the human body and its limitations in Shiʿi jurisprudence. Contemporary Studies in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, 6(1), 120–143. [In Persian]
Moradi, R. (2019). Privacy in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law. Sokhanvaran Publications. [In Persian]
Misbah Yazdi, M. T. (2011). Rights and Politics in the Qurʾan. Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute. [In Persian]
Misbah Yazdi, M. T. (2014). The Islamic Theory of Law. Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute. [In Persian]
Moʿin, M. (1996). Persian Dictionary. Amir Kabir Publications. [In Persian]
Makarem Shirazi, N. (2006). Tafsir-e Nemuneh. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah. [In Persian]
Nabilou, A. (2025). The future of the hijab issue in Iran: Trend and driving-force analysis. Islamic Revolution Research Journal, 16(58), 123–144. [In Persian]
Al-Nūrī, Ḥ. ibn M. T. (1988). Mustadrak al-Wasāʾil. Muʾassasat Āl al-Bayt. [In Arabic]
Crook, J., Sautter, T., & van Wart, M. (2002). Personal integrity and public accountability. Public Administration Review, 62(1), 74–82. [In English]
Gavison, R. (1980). Privacy and the limits of law. Yale Law Journal, 89(3), 421–471. [In English]
Lederer, S. E., et al. (2004). What is privacy in health care? The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 32(3), 442–449. [In English]
Moorhem, N. (2014). Beyond information: Physical privacy in English law. The Cambridge Law Journal, 73(2), 350–377. [In English]
Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. (1997). Oxford University Press. [In English]
Rao, R. (2000). Privacy is a misnomer. Boston University Law Review, 80, 975–1004. [In English]
Westin, A. (1967). Privacy and Freedom. Atheneum. [In English]

  • Receive Date 12 February 2025
  • Revise Date 04 June 2025
  • Accept Date 26 June 2025
  • Publish Date 22 June 2026