What is Ijtihad? What are its conditions?
What is Ijtihad? What are its conditions?
Submitted by on Wed, 03/01/2018 - 09:56
Dear Brother / Sister,
Ijtihad literally means making a great effort with might and main in order to accomplish a difficult and exhausting duty.
Terminologically, it means endeavoring with might and main to clarify the subjective judgments, which are not fortified by exact and clear proofs; i.e. deducing or inferring judgments from the religious laws of Islam, which are fixed and clear as they are based on the Quran, hadith, and ijma -consensus of the community of Muslims.
The Holy Quran is a treasure of endless abundance and blessings; it is based on pre-eternity and gives information about eternity. It is endless and limitless in knowledge and mystery. The learned persons in each century have from it as much as their understandings allowed, and will continue to do so up to the Day of Judgment. The community of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) have benefited from the Quran both physically and spiritually, and they will do so in the future.
The Holy Quran is concise and full of fine points; and it is a bountiful treasure containing lots of principles and rules.
Allah states the following in a holy verse:
“…Nor anything fresh or dry (green or withered), but is (inscribed) in a record clear (to those who can read)”
Badiuzzaman Said Nursi interprets this verse as follows:
“According to one interpretation, the Clear Book or Record consists of the Qur'an. This verse states that everything, fresh or dry, is found within it, is that so? Yes, everything is found in it, but not everyone can see everything in it, for those are found at different levels. Sometimes the seeds, sometimes the nuclei, sometimes the summaries, sometimes the principles, sometimes the signs, are found either explicitly, or implicitly, or allusively, or vaguely, or as a reminder. One of these forms is expressed according to need, in a manner suitable to the purposes of the Qur'an and in connection with the requirements of the position.”
If everything the humanity will face until Doomsday were clearly present in this divine treasure, then the Quran would be a thousand times thicker than it is now.
As Imam Sharani says,
“If our Prophet (pbuh) had not explained the fine points in the Quran, then the Quran would remain as compendious expressions. Likewise, if the mujtahids - the performers of ijtihad- had not explained the intense and fine points in the Sunnah, it would remain as compendious expressions."
As is known, the closest deed to acceptance in the sight of Allah is the one that is the hardest.
The hadith: “The most virtuous of deeds is the hardest” is a proof of this.
Ijtihad is lofty knowledge that calls for a difficult search and a deep inquiry and it is a sacred duty for the people capable of it. It is concerned with all the states and deeds of human beings. This can be achieved not with word of mouth, but through being a rightful heir to our Prophet (pbuh).
Questions on Islam
- What is Ijtihad? What are its conditions?
- The sources of the Religious Judgments and Decrees in Islam
- Is the authority to render something fard based on ijtihad according to the hadith "If I knew it would not be difficult for you, I would render tahajjud prayer fard"?
- If everything exists in the Quran, why do the details of prayer and fasting not exist in the Quran?
- Why do we follow a madhhab?
- Why is ijtihad necessary? Why did madhhabs choose the way of ijtihad when there was a lack of narrations?
- Can you explain the phrases, imam al-mubin (Clear Record) and kitab al-mubin (Clear Book)?
- Third Gleam: A comparison between the works of scholars who take lessons from the Qur’an and the Qur’an itself.
- Could you please define the characteristics of the interpretation methodology of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)? What are the characteristics, content and activities on the subject of interpretation of His ummah (Community of Muslim Believers)?
- 499-1600
