Importance of Ijtehad in contemporary world
WITH rapid and ever changing course of the world, the need to recourse to Ijtehad has significantly increased.
Islam, with its unique attributes of assimilation and adaptation, is the religion of every day and age. It offers solutions not only to the problems of antiquity but also of modern times.
As George Bernard Shaw, a renowned western scholar, once remarked, “I have always held the religion of the Last Prophet in high esteem because of its wonderful vitality.
It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age.”
Ijtehad is one of the most important sources of Shariah. It is an indispensable requisite for Muslim Ummah to cope with newly emerging challenges. Unfortunately, the Muslim Ummah has closed the doors of Ijtehad that has resulted in its socio-economic backwardness.
This very torpor on the part of rightly guided scholars has provided an opportunity to the conservative and reactionary forces to hijack Islam and to present to the world their self-concocted version of Islam that opposes modernism and innovation— even if they are within the defined parameters of Islam and promotes extremism and rigidity.
“Ijtehad “is an Islamic legal term that means “independent reasoning”, which is used for defining an issue in a way that does not contradict the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
Moreover, the holy Prophet (SAW), while sending Ma’ad Ibn Jabal to Yemen as its Governor is reported to have asked him as to how he would decide the matters coming up before him. “I will judge matters according to the Book of Allah, said Ma’ad.
But if the Book of Allah contains nothing to guide me, then I will act upon the precedents of the Prophet of Allah. But if the precedents fail? “Then I will exert to form my own judgment.”
The Prophet (SAW) approved the answers. The answer that I will exert to form my own judgment paves the way for Ijtehad.
Ijtehad cannot be exercised by every Muslim. It is done only by a mujtahid that possesses certain qualifications. Abul Hasan al-Basri in “al Mutamad fi usul al-Fiqah outlined some qualifications to be a mujtahid that was accepted by later scholars including Al-Ghazali.
According to al-Basri, a mujtahid should possess the following qualities: (a) Faithful and firm in belief and action (b) Justice, piety and God wariness (c) Knowledge of the Holy Qur’an and other necessary matters connected with it (d) Knowledge of Hadith, principles of Hadith and other related issues (e) Knowledge of Jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence and other relevant matters (f) Complete grasp of Arabic language and literature (g) Deep understanding of the Islamic laws, commandments, their secrets and mysteries (h) Inference of commandments, interpretation of texts of the Holy Qur’an and Sunna (i) perfect rules of gnosis of analogical and interpretative reasoning (j) Perfect understanding of modern problems and their complications (k) Complete familiarity with the contemporary developments and reasonable appraisal of modern exigencies.
The scholarly debate over Ijtihad has been going on for well over 200 years and has produced some prominent revivalist thinkers such as Jamaluddin Afghani, a 19th Century Iranian scholar, Mohammed Abduh, his Egyptian friend and reformer, and Allama Iqbal, a poet philosopher from the Indian subcontinent.
These scholars also included Hasan al-Banna, Syed Qutb and Maulana Maududi, founders of Islamist Movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt and the Jamaat-i-Islami in the subcontinent.
Their works deal mainly with issues such as state and religion, individual and society, secularism and Islam.
They had a major influence on Muslim thinkers, writers and political activists in the 20th Century. Yet, they were generally accepted as scholars, not mujtahids.
Indubitably, Muslims made a colossal and grave mistake by closing the doors of Ijtehad. It has had extremely detrimental ramifications for the Muslim world.
According to Zakria al-Qazwini, this decision has resulted in chronic intellectual stagnation, as thousands of potential Mujtahids and scholars have been prohibited from offering workable solutions to newly emerging problems.
Furthermore, Governments in Muslim countries today, many of which are unscrupulous, greatly benefit from the absence of Ijtehad.
These governments deliberately want to keep the doors of Ijtehad closed in order to perpetuate their control over religious establishment.
Since religious bodies in Muslim countries rely on government funding, this makes them captive to the government policies.
The domination of religious establishments by secular governments has been so powerful that it has often made religious authorities look inept.
The first step towards opening the door of Ijtehad, according to Qazwini, should be the liberation of religious establishments from the influence of political regimes.
Religious authorities should disassociate themselves from political regimes so that they can independently interpret religious law.
Additionally, there can be no true Ijtehad, Maulana Naeem Sidiqui, pointed out, unless scholars are free to express their opinions and other scholars are free to criticize them if they make errors. Freedom of expression is inherent in the concept and practice of Ijtehad.
This means that the democratization of Muslim societies and basic freedom for scholars is sine qua non for this process to work. Without freedom and democracy, which are sharply limited in the Muslim world and particularly in Arab countries, Ijtehad cannot be performed.
Democracy is key to opening up Ijtehad, and Ijtehad is key to solving problems confronting the Muslim world today.
— The writer is contributing columnist, based in Quetta, Balochistan.
