A’bdullah ibn A’mr reported that nabi (saw) said “Verily, Allah will not destroy knowledge by snatching
it away from his slaves but he will destroy knowledge by taking
away the lives of the u’lemah until there will not even
remain a single a’lim, people will then take the illiterate
as leaders. They will be questioned and they will give fataawa
without knowledge. They will go astray and will lead others
astray.” (BUKHAARI, MUSLIM)
Linguistically,
ijtihad is from ‘jahada’ [to strive] and it means
in juristic terminology, to exhaust effort to reach the truth
of a particular matter of fiqh. Note that ijtihad is by its
nature open to error and is not to be performed where there
is a clear shari’ah ruling on a matter from a plain
text of the Quran or Sunnah. Ijtihad is needed to extract
the rule of Allah (swt) for a new situation when there is
no explicit text or the situation is not totally clear as
to what textual rules it would apply to.
There
are various grades of mujtahid e.g.
•
Mujtahid Mutlaq [unrestricted in his ijtihad due to him having
established his own usoolul fiqh with regards to general evidences
and universal principles],
•
Mujtahid Masala [competent to make ijtihad in a specific issue
or group of issues]
• Mujtahid Madh-hab [competent to make ijtihad based
upon the usoolul fiqh of a complete mujtahid]
• Mujtahid Murajih [competent to outweigh between the
different ijtihad within a school, in later times this has
also been applied to scholars outweighing between different
opinions from different schools, however, that obviously contains
the bias of the mujtahid murajihs own legal thought]
• Mujtahid Mustakhrij [competent to trace and authenticate
the ijtihad within a madh-hab and distinguish between the
preferred views]
• There are also other grades of mujtahid which have
been mentioned by the usooleeyeen and some have given them
different names with similar meanings.
From
the basic requirements of a mujtahid there are the following
[NOTE: The requirements for ijtihad differ from madh-hab to
madh-hab and on the type of ijtihaad tha is being performed,
also circumstances are also relevant, there may be times when
the most knowledgeable of a community does not possess every
tool of ijtihad that would ideally be required but he still
uses all of his knowledge, resources and abilities to spend
effort on reaching the best decision he can.]:-
1
Muslim
Allah (swt) says ““Verily, We have sent
down to you the Book as a clarification for all matters, a
guidance, a mercy and good news for the Muslims” (an Nahl 16:89)
2
Sane
Nabi (saw) was reported by A’li to have said “The
pen is lifted for three – one who sleeps till he awakes,
a child till he becomes mature and an insane person till he
gains his sanity” (ABU DAWOOD kitabul Hudood,
AHMAD, NASAA’I, IBN MAAJAH and graded ‘saheeh’
according to AL HAAKIM as reported by IBN HAJR AL ASQALAANI
in ‘Bulooghul Maraam min Adillatul Ahkaam’ [kitaabun
Nikaah no.927])
3
Intelligent
“…Thus do We explain the signs in detail
for a people who use their intellects (ya’qiloon)” (ar Room 30:28)
4
Arabic Language
“Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Quran
in order that you may understand.” (Yusuf 12:2)
This includes:-
i) Ilmul Lughah
ii) I’lmul Laghwah (dialects)
iii) I’lmun Nahw
iv) I’lmus Sarf
v) a) A’mm/Khass b) Mantooq/Mafhoom c) Muhkam/Mutashabbih
5
U’loomul Quran
This includes:-
i) Asbaabun Nuzool
ii) Ayaatul Ahkaam
iii) Makki/Madani
iv) Seven Readings
v) An Naasikh wal Mansookh
6 U’loomul Hadeeth
This includes:-
i) Asbaabun Nuzool
ii) Ahadeethul Ahkaam
iii) An Naasikh wal Mansookh Abu A’la ibn ash Shikhir
reports The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) abrogated
some of his commands by others, just as the Qur'an abrogates
some part with the others. (MUSLIM [no.675])
iv) Daa’eef/Hasan/Saheeh
v) Mawqoof/Marfu’/Musnad
vi) I’lmur Rijaal
vii) I’mud Diraayah
7
I’lmul Ijtihaad wal Taqleed
8
Al Adillatul Ijmaliyyah (The general evidences) Al Qawaa’id
ul Kulliyyah or Qawaa’id ul Usoolul Fiqh (The general
principles relating to deduction of laws)
9
Fataawatul U’lemaa’ and Fiqhul Madhaahib (The
rulings of the previous scholars and schools of law) [for
mujtahid murrajih] |
