The recent enactment of the law mandating the official registration of immovable property transactions has marked a significant transformation in the Iranian legal framework governing property registration. This legislative reform aims to reduce property disputes, enhance transactional transparency, and safeguard ownership rights, effectively limiting or rendering unenforceable private agreements—such as ordinary sale contracts (mobāya‘nāmeh)—in their dealings with third parties. The primary innovation of this law lies in its statutory requirement that all immovable property transactions be formally registered, coupled with the withdrawal of enforceability of informal agreements in both judicial proceedings and registration offices.
While this reform offers considerable legal and economic advantages, it simultaneously raises complex questions from jurisprudential and Shariah perspectives, particularly regarding the validity of consensual transactions and the necessity of their formal registration. This study examines the legal innovations introduced by the formal registration law, analyzes the implications of invalidating ordinary sale contracts, and evaluates, through reference to Islamic jurisprudential sources, the perspectives of Imami scholars regarding the necessity—or otherwise—of mandating registration for property transfers.
The findings indicate that, although a contract of sale in Islamic jurisprudence is consummated through offer and acceptance, the Islamic state may, in pursuit of public interest and societal welfare, impose additional conditions such as formal registration to ensure the legal efficacy and enforceability of property transactions. Accordingly, the law aligns with established Islamic legal maxims, including prohibition of harm, necessity of maintaining order, and sovereign authority, thereby providing a coherent jurisprudential justification for its implementation.