Ijtehad

Outline:

1. Meaning
a. Al Amidi defines it as to spare no effort in the quest of discovering the supposed
rules of the Shariah in the sense that the mujtahid leaves no stone unturned.
b. Ibn al-Haj defines it as the exertion of the mujtahid’s whole effort in his attempt
to establish the anticipated rules of the Shariah.
c.

Concept: Collective objectives of Islam cannot be attained without fulfillment of all the demands of life.
Old laws give way and render the system into a sterile process, incapable to cope with the new realities.
Therefore, undertaking a structural review of law in accordance with Islamic teachings on matters not
discussed by the Holy Qur’an or Sunna and exploring new sources of legal framework to maintain life as
a progressive and dynamic process is called ijtihad.
Two layers of meaning of Islamic Law:
a. Actual spirit or Essential aspect- provide dynamism and evolution
b. Structural form or Existential aspect- provide discipline and balance
c. Forms
d. History
e. Restriction by traditionalists/fundamentalists
f. Functions of Ijtehad
a. Legislative process
b.
g. Need of Ijtehad in 21st centuryrelation to the status of women,
relations between Sunnis and Shiites, relations between
Muslims and non-Muslims, the role of Muslims in non-
Muslim societies, and Islamic economic theories.

Example: Ijtihad in Overcoming deadlock of Creative economic

struggle: The interest was forbidden at a time when it was
replaced with Qaraz e hassna,

And lend Allah a goodly loan.”

“You can
never attain virtue unless you spend (in the cause of Allah) out of that which you cherish the most.”
The religious scholarship has put themselves out of the mantle of economic leadership because of lack of
understanding of the overcoming the deadlock of the creative economic struggle. Since it is common
phenomenon that without eliminating fear of poverty, people cannot be saved from religious or moral
destruction.
a. Ijtehad and Pakistan’s council of Islamic Ideology: the official legislative body of fatawa
a. the Judiciary that performs the task of interpretation for law-making, Majlis-e-Shura
b. In constitution of Pakistan article 189 and 201 are related to Taqlid
c. the legislative process in Islam employs the methods of Ijtihad, Ifta and Taqlid as a
perfect tool of legislation.
b. Iqbal’s view of Ijtehad: Reconstructions of religious thought in 1930, renewal of intellectual
foundations of Islamic philosophy in a manner to be suited the scientific climate of modern age.