"THE ESSENTIAL FEATURE":

The PhD. thesis submitted in July, 1998, is on the subject of flexibility in Islamic law, arguing that "no laws in Islam are immutable" and that "commands and prohibitions in the Quran are expressed in a variety of forms which are often open to interpretation":

"Those laws which look immutable even in ritual part of the religion are not actually immutable and are subject to change under special circumstances," he writes. "Islamic laws have been developed out of certain conditions and necessities of the time and space. This flexibility must be known as the essential feature of the Islamic law." 

In his 1996 Master's thesis,  Rowhani looks at " Islamic Legislative Power with reference to the Iranian experience," writing that "Where there is no explicit law (Mantaqah-al-Feraq) in Sharia, legistlation has been permissible and necessary."

He argues that the "Islamic system approves of the principle of the separation of powers and recommends the implementation of this principle as a guarantee for the realization of democracy":

"Iran's Islamic consultative Assembly (the Majlis) is the central body for formulating and passing laws, and as it will be argued, the nature of law-making in Iran is not in contrast with that of the West. The only difference is that in the West the principles of the Constitution solely are observed, whereas in Iran, the Islamic principles have an equal place in addition to compliance with the Constitution. "

The Twitter account associated with Rowhani's campaign has tweeted a link to the theses, so evidently he still approves of them. 

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