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Ijtihad is the making of a decision in
Islamic law (sharia)Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by personal effort (
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
), independently of any school (
madhhab is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
) of
jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
(
fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
). as opposed to
taqlidTaqlid or taklid is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology connoting "imitation", that is; following the decisions of a religious authority without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of...
, copying or obeying without question.
Ijtihad is mainly associated with the
Shi'a MuslimShia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
Jafari school of
jurisprudenceFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
. To be valid and accepted it has to be rooted in
the Qur'an and the hadithQur'an and Sunnah is an often quoted Islamic term regarding the sources of Islam. Muslims hold that Islam is derived from two sources: one being infallible and containing compressed information — the Qur'an — and another being a detailed explanation of the everyday application of the principles...
and it is required that no established doctrine rules the case. A
mujtahid is an Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret
shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by
ijtihad.
Etymology and definition
The word derives from the
three-letter Arabic verbal rootThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
of
{{Usul al-fiqh}}
Ijtihad ({{lang-ar|اجتهاد}}, {{transl|ar|ʼijtihād}}) is the making of a decision in Islamic law (sharia)Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by personal effort (jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
), independently of any school (madhhab is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
) of jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
(fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
). as opposed to taqlidTaqlid or taklid is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology connoting "imitation", that is; following the decisions of a religious authority without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of...
, copying or obeying without question.
Ijtihad is mainly associated with the Shi'a MuslimShia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
Jafari school of jurisprudenceFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
. To be valid and accepted it has to be rooted in the Qur'an and the hadithQur'an and Sunnah is an often quoted Islamic term regarding the sources of Islam. Muslims hold that Islam is derived from two sources: one being infallible and containing compressed information — the Qur'an — and another being a detailed explanation of the everyday application of the principles...
and it is required that no established doctrine rules the case. A mujtahid is an Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by ijtihad.
Etymology and definition
The word derives from the three-letter Arabic verbal rootThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
of {{lang|ar|ج-ه-د}}
{{Usul al-fiqh}}
Ijtihad ({{lang-ar|اجتهاد}}, {{transl|ar|ʼijtihād}}) is the making of a decision in Islamic law (sharia)Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by personal effort (jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
), independently of any school (madhhab is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
) of jurisprudenceJurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
(fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
). as opposed to taqlidTaqlid or taklid is an Arabic term in Islamic legal terminology connoting "imitation", that is; following the decisions of a religious authority without necessarily examining the scriptural basis or reasoning of that decision, such as accepting and following the verdict of scholars of...
, copying or obeying without question.
Ijtihad is mainly associated with the Shi'a MuslimShia Islam is the second largest denomination of Islam. The followers of Shia Islam are called Shi'ites or Shias. "Shia" is the short form of the historic phrase Shīʻatu ʻAlī , meaning "followers of Ali", "faction of Ali", or "party of Ali".Like other schools of thought in Islam, Shia Islam is...
Jafari school of jurisprudenceFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
. To be valid and accepted it has to be rooted in the Qur'an and the hadithQur'an and Sunnah is an often quoted Islamic term regarding the sources of Islam. Muslims hold that Islam is derived from two sources: one being infallible and containing compressed information — the Qur'an — and another being a detailed explanation of the everyday application of the principles...
and it is required that no established doctrine rules the case. A mujtahid is an Islamic scholar who is competent to interpret shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
by ijtihad.
Etymology and definition
The word derives from the three-letter Arabic verbal rootThe roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or "radicals"...
of {{lang|ar|ج-ه-د}} {{translGimel is the third letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic...
-HHe is the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician , Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic . Its sound value is a voiceless glottal fricative ....
-DDalet is the fourth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew , Syriac and Arabic...
({{transl|ar|DIN|jahada}}, "struggle"): the "t" is inserted because the word is a derived stem VIII verb. In Islamic political theory, ijtihad is often counted as one of the essential qualifications of the caliphThe Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
, e.g. by Al-Baghdadi (1037) or Al-MawardiAbu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib al-Mawardi , known in Latin as Alboacen , was an Arab Muslim jurist of the Shafi'i school most remembered for his works on religion, government, the caliphate, and public and constitutional law during a time of political turmoil...
(1058). Al-GhazaliAbu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
dispenses with this qualification in his legal theory and delegates the exercise of ijtihad to the scholars of religion (ulemaUlama , also spelt ulema, refers to the educated class of Muslim legal scholars engaged in the several fields of Islamic studies. They are best known as the arbiters of shari‘a law...
).
History
The Qur’an commands ijtihâd.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} In early Islam it was common practice and later it integrated with early Islamic philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
. It slowly fell out of practice in Sunni fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
for several reasons, particularly due to the efforts of the Asharite theologians, most notably al-GhazaliAbu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
whose book The Incoherence of the PhilosophersThe Incoherence of the Philosophers is the title of a landmark 11th century polemic by the Sufi sympathetic Imam Al-Ghazali of the Asharite school of Islamic theology criticizing the Avicennian school of early Islamic philosophy...
was the most celebrated statement of the view that ijtihâd was leading to errors of over-confidence in judgement.
Some western scholars such as Joseph SchachtJoseph Schacht, born in Ratibor, 15 March 1902, died in Englewood, 1 August 1969, was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar on Islamic law, whose Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence is still considered a centrally...
say the "closure of the door of ijtihad" had occurred by the beginning of the 10th century CE: "hence a consensus gradually established itself to the effect that from that time onwards no one could be deemed to have the necessary qualifications for independent reasoning in religious law, and that all future activity would have to be confined to the explanation, application, and, at the most, interpretation of the doctrine as it had been laid down once and for all."
Other scholars (e.g. Wael HallaqWael B. Hallaq is currently the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University and is currently acting as the Director of Graduate Studies at the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. After a Ph.D...
) demonstrate that ijtihad has remained an essential part of the Sunni Muslim tradition, despite the emphasis on taqlid. Hallaq writes that a minority always claimed that a properly-qualified scholar must have the right to ijtihad at all times.{{citation needed|date=October 2009|reason= dead link: http://www.hf-fak.uib.no/institutter/smi/paj/Vikor.html }} Long after the 10th century the principles of ijtihad continued to be discussed in the Islamic legal literature and Asharites continued to argue with Mutazilites about its applicability to science. Al-Amidi (1233) mentions twelve common controversies about ijtihad in his book on Islamic law (usul al-fiqhUṣūl al-fiqh is the study of the origins, sources, and principles upon which Islamic jurisprudence is based. In the narrow sense, it simply refers to the question of what are the sources of Islamic law...
), such as the question of whether the Prophet himself depended on ijtihad and whether a mujtahid should be allowed to follow taqlid. Ironically, the loss of its application in law seems to have also led to its loss in philosophy and the sciences, which some historians think caused Muslim societies to stagnate before the 1492 fall of al-AndalusAl-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}}
Qualifications of a mujtahid
In some, but not all, Islamic traditions, a mujtahid can specialise in a branch of shariae such as economic or family law.
Sunni qualifications
The necessary qualifications were set out by Abu’l Husayn al-BasriAbu'l-Husayn al-Basri was a Mu'tazilite faqih . He wrote al-Mu'tamid fi usul l-fiqh, a major source of influence in the field of usul until Razi's Mahsul....
(died 467 AH / 1083 CECommon Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
) in “al Mu’tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh” and accepted by later Sunni scholars, including al-Ghazali. These qualifications can be summed up as an understanding of the objectives of the sharia and a knowledge of its sources and methods of deduction. This includes:
- being an upright person whose judgement people can trust
- competence in Arabic allowing correct understanding of the Qur’an and of the sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
so as to be able to draw accurate deductions.
- adequate knowledge of the Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, the events surrounding its revelation and its legal contents (the ayat al-ahkam) - some 500 verses, according to al-Ghazali - and with all the classical commentaries on the ayat al-ahkam, especially the views of the companions of the ProphetIn Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
and with incidences of abrogation (suspending or repealing a ruling) as well as the use of narratives and parables and sections relating to the hereafter to infer a legal rule in Sunni qiyasIn Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction to a new circumstance and create a new injunction...
; a thorough knowledge of the rules and procedures for which allows the application of revealed law to an unprecedented case.
- adequate knowledge of the sunnah, especially as related to one's specialization, the relative reliability of the narrators of the hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, distinguishing between the general and specific, the absolute and the qualified. One estimate (by Ahmad ibn HanbalAhmad bin Muhammad bin Hanbal Abu `Abd Allah al-Shaybani was an important Muslim scholar and theologian. He is considered the founder of the Hanbali school of fiqh...
) suggests that 400,000 hadith(including variants in wording and sanad) need to be known.
- ability to verify the consensus (ijma
Ijmāʿ is an Arabic term referring to the consensus of the Muslim community. Various schools of thought within Islamic jurisprudence may define this consensus as that of the first generation of Muslims only; the consensus of the first three generations of Muslims; the consensus of the jurists...
) of the companions of the ProphetIn Islam, the ' were the companions, disciples, scribes and family of the Islamic prophet...
, the successors and leading imamAn imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s and mujtahideen of the past, especially with regard to his specialisation, and familiarity with issues on which there is no consensus.
- understanding the revealed purpose of the sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
as related to considerations of public interest including the Five PillarsThe Pillars of Islam are basic concepts and duties for accepting the religion for the Muslims.The Shi'i and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance of these acts, but the Shi'a do not refer to them by the same name .-Pillars of Shia:According to Shia Islam, the...
of the good; the protection of "life, religion, intellect, lineage and property" and of general maxims for the interpretation of shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
', which include the "removal of hardship", that "certainty must prevail over doubt" and the achievement of a balance between too rigid and too free an interpretation.
The following are the conditions that Imam Baghawi laid out for ijtihad:
- Knowledge of the Quran
- Knowledge of the ahadith of the Blessed Prophet
- Knowledge of the sayings of the Salaf-us-Salaheen; that is to know which rulings they disagreed and upon which they were unanimous.
- Knowledge of Arabic linguistics
- Knowledge of Qiyas, the knowledge by which one learns the method of deriving a ruling from the Quran and Sunnah. In this case, the above mentioned ruling (which is derived from the Quran and Sunnah) should not be apparent in the Quran and Sunnah or Ijma’. If there is no derivation involved due to the explicitness of the ruling in the Quran and Sunnah, than such a person is not by definition a mujtahid.
Shia qualifications
Shi'a hawzaHawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...
students start their studies learning fiqhFiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
, kalamʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...
, hadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, tafsirTafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
, philosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and Arabic literatureArabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....
. After mastering these levels they can start becoming mujtahid by studying advanced textbooks known as sat'h, and research courses known as kharij.
The following points are presented in order to clarify the purpose of ijtihad:
- God is all-powerful, all-knowing.
- God created laws for humankind and only God has the authority to do so.
- God appointed messengers to convey the laws to humankind.
- God appointed imams to guide humankind about the laws.
- At present, neither the messenger (Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
), nor the imams (God-appointed leaders) are accessible. The current imam, Muhammad al-MahdiMuḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī is believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Mahdī, an ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
, is in the OccultationThe Occultation in Shia Islam refers to a belief that the messianic figure, or Mahdi, who in Shi'i thought is an infallible male descendant of the founder of Islam, Muhammad, was born but disappeared, and will one day return and fill the world with justice. Some Shi'is, such as the Zaidi and...
.
- Therefore, qualified jurists have the duty to find God's law, not create God's laws.
- Therefore, ijtihad is the process of finding God's law from the Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and the hadithThe term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
using specific methods.
Formal preconditions for being considered to be able to give ifta and thus be a mujtahid are:
- Maturity
- Being of legitimate birth
- Faith
- Intelligence
- Justice (integrity, specifically refraining from all the prohibitions of the Sharia and performing all of its obligations.)
*It must be noted that a female can be a mujtahid but not one that others can follow (she is not a MarjaMarja , also known as a marja-i taqlid or marja dini , literally means "Source to Imitate/Follow" or "Religious Reference"...
), that is to say she follows her own rulings but others cannot do taqlid (imitation) of her.
Types of Mujtahideen
- Mujtahid Mustaqil
He regulates the usul of his madhab
He studies, researches, and engrosses himself in the verses and ahadith of the Blessed Prophet to find proof for issues that confront him. He favors one proof over the other when they contradict each other. He also expounds on the references from which he derived his rulings.
He confronts new issues which have not yet been discussed and presents them in light of evidence (from the Quran and Sunnah).
- Mujtahid Muntasib: is one who is a follower of his teacher in the usul and who takes help from him in seeking evidence on rulings. He knows the rulings in light of their evidence and is fully capable of deriving rulings from the evidence.
- Mujtahideen fil shara’: These are the four Imams who devised the usul and derived rulings from the four sources (i.e., Quran, Sunnah, Ijma’, Qiyas) without being muqalideen (followers) of anyone in fundamental or derivative rulings.
- Mujtahideen fil madhab: As in Imam Abu Yusuf
Yaqub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari, better known as Abu Yusuf was a student of legist Abu Hanifah who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the government positions he held.-Biography:...
(rah), Imam Muhammud bin Hassan Shaybani (rah) and all the students of Imam Abu Hanifah (rah) who derived rulings using the usul of Imam Abu Hanifah (rah) which he derived from the main sources. Although they disagreed in some derivative rulings with Imam Abu Hanifah (rah), they are his muqallideen (followers) in the usul. The difference between them (mujtahideen fil madhab) and mu’aaredheen fil madhab (parallel scholarship) like Imam Shafi’ (rah) is that they (mujtahideen fil madhab) are his (Imam Abu Hanifah t) muqalideen in usul while Imam Shafi’ (rah) is not.
- Mujtahideen fil masaail: They practice ijtihad in the rulings in which there is no known opinion of Imam Abu Hanifah (rah). This category includes scholars like Khassaaf, Tahawi, Shams ul-Aima Halwani, Shams ul-Sarakhsi, Fakhr-ul-Islam Bazdawi, and Qazi Khan, etc. This group of scholars follows Imam Abu Hanifah (rah) in his usul and his derivative rulings, but derives rulings, based on his usul, on issues in which there is no known opinion or ruling by Imam Abu Hanifah (rah).
Modern application
Muslims living in the West are subject to secular laws of the state rather than Islamic law. In this context ijtihad becomes mainly a theoretical and ideological exercise without any legal force.
Conservative Muslims say that most Muslims do not have the training in legal sources to conduct ijtihad. They argue that this role was traditionally given to those who have studied for a number of years under a scholar. However, liberal movements within IslamProgressive Muslims have produced a considerable body of liberal thought within Islam or "progressive Islam" ; but some consider progressive Islam and liberal Islam as two distinct movements)...
generally argue that any Muslim can perform ijtihad, given that Islam has no generally accepted clerical hierarchy or bureaucratic organization. At the other end of the political spectrum, a number of fundamentalistIslamic fundamentalism is a term used to describe religious ideologies seen as advocating a return to the "fundamentals" of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Definitions of the term vary. According to Christine L...
tendencies have also re-opened the doors of ijtihad though not in a liberal direction.
See also
- Grand Ayatollahs
- Islamic Golden Age
During the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
- Liberal movements within Islam
Progressive Muslims have produced a considerable body of liberal thought within Islam or "progressive Islam" ; but some consider progressive Islam and liberal Islam as two distinct movements)...
- Istihsan
Istihsan is an Arabic term for juristic "preference". Muslim scholars may use it to express their preference for particular judgements in Islamic law over other possibilities...
- List of Islamic terms in Arabic
- Sola Scriptura
Sola scriptura is the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Consequently, sola scriptura demands that only those doctrines are to be admitted or confessed that are found directly within or indirectly by using valid logical deduction or valid...
and the free interpretationBiblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation concerning the books of the Bible. It is part of the broader field of hermeneutics which involves the study of principles for the text and includes all forms of communication: verbal and nonverbal.While Jewish and Christian...
of the BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
are similar concepts by which Protestants interpret Christian doctrineDoctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...
themselves.
- M. A. Muqtedar Khan
Dr. M. A. Muqtedar Khan [محمد عبد المقتدر خان] is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science, a Sufi and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is also the founding Director of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Delaware...
External links