Bank deposits in the Iranian banking system have generally been analyzed as a private contractual relationship between banks and depositors. The central research question asks to what extent bank deposits in Iran have evolved beyond a private contract into a mechanism of financial governance. The study hypothesizes that bank deposits, particularly investment deposits, possess an institutional and governance-oriented nature, and that their jurisprudential and legal legitimacy cannot be explained solely through the rules of Islamic commercial jurisprudence but should also be understood in relation to political jurisprudence, monetary policy, and the public interest in preserving the banking system. This study employs a descriptive-analytical methodology based on Shi'a Islamic jurisprudence, Iranian banking law, the Law on Usury-Free Banking Operations, and an institutional analysis of monetary policy. The findings indicate that concepts such as provisional profit payments (Ali al-Hesab), general agency (Wakalah), and deposit guarantees function less as purely jurisprudential solutions than as policy instruments for maintaining financial stability and public confidence. The study concludes that bank deposits constitute a politico-jurisprudential institution in which the rules of Islamic commercial jurisprudence have been reinterpreted under the logic of financial governance, making reconsideration of their existing jurisprudential and legal frameworks unavoidable.

Introduction
Bank deposits have traditionally been interpreted in Iranian legal and jurisprudential literature as private contractual arrangements between depositors and banking institutions. Classical analyses have primarily focused on identifying the appropriate Islamic contractual framework governing these relationships, including loans, agency, deposits for safekeeping, and profit-sharing agreements. However, the practical operation of the contemporary banking system demonstrates that deposits perform functions extending far beyond private contractual obligations. They constitute the principal source of financial intermediation, liquidity management, monetary policy implementation, and financial stability. This study argues that understanding bank deposits exclusively through the lens of Islamic commercial jurisprudence provides an incomplete explanation of their contemporary institutional role. The research therefore investigates bank deposits as an instrument of financial governance that regulates the interaction between the state, financial institutions, and citizens while simultaneously serving broader public policy objectives.
Materials and Methods
This research employs a descriptive-analytical methodology supported by documentary and institutional analysis. Primary sources include Shi'a jurisprudential texts, Iranian civil law, the Law on Usury-Free Banking Operations, scholarly literature on Islamic finance, and legal analyses concerning banking contracts. These materials are complemented by contemporary literature on financial governance, monetary policy, banking regulation, deposit insurance, and institutional economics. The study adopts an interdisciplinary analytical framework integrating Islamic jurisprudence, banking law, political jurisprudence, and financial governance theory. Comparative conceptual analysis is used to evaluate the consistency between classical jurisprudential doctrines and the practical mechanisms governing bank deposits within Iran's monetary system.
Results
The findings indicate that bank deposits in Iran have gradually acquired an institutional character that substantially exceeds their traditional contractual foundations. Investment deposits, although formally structured through agency and participatory contracts, function in practice as governance instruments supporting liquidity management, monetary stabilization, and financial regulation. Mechanisms including provisional profit payments, deposit guarantees, and general agency arrangements primarily operate to preserve systemic confidence rather than to implement classical jurisprudential doctrines in their original form. The research further demonstrates that the relationship between depositors and banks is increasingly characterized by institutional regulation instead of contractual autonomy. Financial risks are redistributed among banks, depositors, and the state through explicit and implicit regulatory mechanisms designed to maintain banking stability and public confidence.
Discussion
The findings suggest that the evolution of bank deposits reflects a broader transformation in the relationship between Islamic jurisprudence and modern financial governance. Rather than replacing classical jurisprudential principles, contemporary banking institutions reinterpret them within the framework of macroeconomic management and public interest. Political jurisprudence provides an analytical foundation for understanding governmental intervention in monetary affairs, particularly where preserving financial stability constitutes an overriding public objective. Nevertheless, this transformation generates important normative challenges regarding contractual transparency, risk allocation, institutional accountability, and the legitimacy of governmental intervention in financial markets. Recognizing bank deposits as a politico-jurisprudential institution enables a more comprehensive understanding of modern Islamic banking and highlights the necessity of reforming existing legal and jurisprudential frameworks to reconcile financial stability with the fundamental principles of justice, contractual integrity, and public trust.