Ijtihad In Islam

Ijtihad is a current issue of these days . Ijtihad is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question. Generally, ijtihad is being an authority in the matters of Islam. There are two ways of being an authority whereby one is conforming with shariah and the other banned by it. Mujtahid is the qualified lawyer who uses it. The principle of Ijtihad is considered to have roots in a Hadith, Muadh Ibn Jabal, a qadi as judge. The Prophet asked how would he decide on problems arising and he answered, "If the Qur’an contains nothing to guide me, I will act on the ways of the Prophet". The definition of Ijtihad involves four main principles which

New ideas from the West, new educational systems and the Salafi movement stressed the need to reinterpret Islamic teachings with direct reference to the Qur'an and Ahadith leaving aside the accumulated scholarship of the Mujtahids through centuries. They particularly called for abandoning taqlid in favour of Ijtihad. Among the traditional reformers who argued to renew Ijtihad were Shah Wali Allah and Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi who maintained that taqlid is lawful only when applied on behalf of laymen who need the guidance of legal scholars in running their mundane and religious affairs. They argued that the ultimate authorities did not lie in the doctrines of past masters but rather in the Quran and the Sunnah. Some of the advocates of Ijtihadism reinterpret some of the key terms and concepts like taqlid and talfiq . These thinkers want to "apply current cognitive methods to the task of reforming Islam". They have re-opened the gates of ijtihad, in order to accommodate the religion with the modern world. However, this ijtihad they have advocated is one that is quite unusual. Its new ideals were put forward by Islamic modernists such as Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan and Muhammad Abduh in response to elements of modernization. Yet, it was truly Al-Afghani who proposed the new ijtihad we see today. He argued that Islam could be reconciled with modernization by utilizing the concept of ijtihad and would enable Muslims to think critically and apply their own individual interpretations of the innovations in Islam. This new form of ijtihad would allow Muslims to combine their religious perspective with that of their academic or scientific