Ijtihad: A report

Salam

Ijtihad is still practiced by the Shia, who account for approx 15% of the Muslim Ummah.
The fact is that Ijtihad is beyond most Muslims, thus the need to do Taqleed of a Maraja: that is to follow the rulings of a preeminent Mujtihad, recognised as a source of emulation. This is the reverse side of Ijtihad.

Whilst it is correct that the four schools of jurisprudence that are followed by Sunni Muslims, has shut the door on Ijtihad, not mentioned is the fifth school: Ja'fari, although this school of jurisprudence actually practices Itjihad.

Where Sunnisn to re-open the science of Ijtihad, then it would be necessary for the majority to adopt a scholar to follow, least they be led into error.

If one looks at the pre-eminent living Maraji': Ayatollah Sayyed Khamenei, Ayatollah sayyed Sistani and Ayatollah sayyed Fadlallah, one sees that all the issues you raise have already been addressed. Moreover, we see that Islam remains valid and has embraced technological innovations but rejected imperialist and occidental ideologies that are incompatible with Islam.

Former Iranian president Ayatollah Khatemei, describes Iran as a beacon to the World - its model of Islamic democracy is full of vibrancy, and has demonstrated that Islamic governance can work. This model of democracy was itself a form of Ijtihad, the late Imam Khomenei (ra) re-introduced the principle of velayat-e faqih.

There is already a movement within the Sunni sect under the eminent Sunni scholar Dr. Qaradawi, that is bordering on re-opening Ijtihad. However, it would be wrong for anyone to think that Ijtihad is a gateway to progressives or relativism: it is not; rather it is both a science and philosophy.

Whilst there are Mujtihads living in the West, there are no eminent Maraji'. This is significant because not every Mujtihad is capable of issuing rulings for others. This article has little to do with ijtihad and more to do with subverting Islamic core beliefs, using Ijtihad as a vehicle.
For example the role of women, and rues for living in the dar-al-Islam and the dar-al-harb (house of conflict) are clearly defined by modern mujtihads, such as the current living Maraji and the late Khomeini(ra).

w.s.

Dear Babak,

Salam.

Thank you for your comments. Firstly this article is not mine and the views shared in this article do not necessarily match completely with mine. I have posted this article to make people aware of what different groups are upto.

I agree that that the Shias generally seem to have a more alive intellectual tradition and outlook nowadays compared to us ‘Sunnis’. I for myself just like to call myself plain Muslim. I feel that no man-made system is perfect and we need to keep working to come closer to the Islamic principles by devising better governments. It has been observed in some sections that Iran government is totalitarian and imposing at times and its extremely hostile stance to anything western is not the perfect attitude either. In any case Pakistanis who are neighbours with Iran need to go beyond the Sunni-Shia divide and adopt closer ties to Iran. Pakistan can definitely get help in the education and other sectors from Iran. Since we are both in the UK, I’ll keep in touch with you.

Allah hafiz.

thinkingpeace

salaam,

thank you for sparing the time to reply to my post thinkingpeace.

I agree with you on the principle of Islamic unity. My point is that there are lots of uninformed Sunnis Muslims, who for various political rather than sound theological reasons want to re-open Ijithad. This is quite different from the views expressed by the serious Sunni scholars like Dr. Qaradawi.

I see no problem with a Sunni of any of the four recognised schools of jurisprudence switching to the Shi Ja'fari school of jurisprudence where ijtihad is alive. If Sunnis want to re-open ijtihad and not join the Shia, then we are talking of a new school of jurisprudence. This new school would not currently be within the fold of Islam, the Al-Azhar would have to approve it, for it to be recognised as a legitimate school of Sunni Jurisprudence. There is a considerable difference between Dr. Qaradawi founding a school of jurisprudence and Manji.

This then is not a national project but something very significant. If the Western Sunni Muslims were to adopt Ijtihad as a progressive alternative to the traditional school of jurisprudence, this could well amount to what would be a heresy within Sunnism.

With regard to Iran; I disagree that it is totalitarian, it is a modern Islamic democracy and if it is more of the case of the West being anti-Islamic thus anti-Iranian than the other way around. But it is true that Iran see Islam as the appropriate body of law and model of governance for the Twentieth-First Century. The role of ijtihad and Taqleed is central to Iran.

I think that some of the misconceptions about Ijtihad within modern Sunnism are worrying, there are far too many political organisations and unscrupolous individuals who wish to present ijtihad as something that it is not. Take Irshad Manji for an example: a woman with no theological or scholastic background within Islam, advocating that ijtihad, is something that all Muslims can do, regardless of knowledge.

If she understood the science and scholastic tradition of ijtihad, she would be most disappointed becasue it could never lead to "sane" Mujtahids re-interpretating the Sharia in the way that she would want. Homosexuality, the necessity of the Hijab, the age of marriage cannot be re-interpreted to fit Western secular and irreligious values.

regards

Babak

Salam,

I think you might find "Ijtihad: Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ra'y" by Muhammad Ibrahim Jannati, a good explanation of ijtihad. It is posted on my blog:http://alshia.blog.co.uk/main/

quick link:
http://www.blog.co.uk/main/index.php/alshia?tag=Ijtihad


ws

Thank you for your recommendation. I will post a link on this blog.