Islamic Jurisprudence Ijtihadand Part 5 Essential attributes of a mujtahid One who does ijtihad

Essential attributes of a   mujtahid’ (One who does

ijtihad )

A mujtahid‘should possess the following qualities:

1

.

Faithful and firm in belief and action

2

.

Justice, piety and God wariness

3

.

Knowledge of the Holy Qur an and other necessary

matters connected with it.

4

.

Knowledge of Hadith, principles of Hadith and other

related issues

5

.

Knowledge of Jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence

and other relevant matters

6

.

Complete grasp of Arabic language and literature

7

.

Deep understanding of the Islamic laws, commandments,

their secrets and mysteries

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43

8

.

Inference of commandments, interpretation of texts of the

holy Qur an and Sunna, perfect rules of gnosis of

analogical and interpretative reasoning

9

.

Perfect understanding of modern problems and their

complications

10

.

Complete familiarity with the contemporary developments

and reasonable appraisal of modern exigencies

Appropriate method of Ijtihad

Ijtihad is‘basically‘of‘threetypes:

1

.

Ijtihad‘bayani (interpretativereasoning)

2

.

Ijtihad‘qayasi‘ (analogical‘reasoning()

3

.

Ijtihad‘istislahi (concilatory‘reasoning)

Each of these types of ijtihad‘should be undertaken in

accordance with certain rules designed for each category. For

example:

1

.

The Interpretative ijtihadis related to interpretation ofthe

texts containing definite meanings. The method employed

to conduct this ijtihad‘while interpreting commandments

need to be considered: particular and general, infinite and

finite, realistic and figurative, overt and covert, elaborate

and

abridged

and

definite

and

indefinite

etc.

Consideration should also

be given for inference of

commands to the expression, implication, direction and

necessity contained in the text. The interpretative ijtihad

should this way be conducted keeping in view other

technical methods of exegesis and interpretation of the

Qur an and Sunna.

2

.

The Analogical  ijtihad‘is derived from legal analogies.

Here the origin or root, sub-section or branch, command

and its cause require to be determined. Proper method of

interpretation,

review

and

research

of

the

legal

responsibility needs to be employed to determine the

cause and application of command. Moreover, to identify

Ijtihad:‘meanings,‘application‘&‘scope

44

effectiveness of

command and nature of

reasoning,

discrimination

is

required

between

the

appropriate,

unusual, derived and transmitted reasons. And in case of

oneness of the cause and command, oneness in kind and

sex needs also to be kept in view while perpetuating

juristic reasoning (ijtihad).

3

.

The Conciliatory  ijtihad‘is derived from necessity and

expedience. To accomplish this kind of  ijtihad, the

established

jurisprudential

principles

and

rules

are

required to be kept in view including the principles of

appreciative,

conciliatory,

coalitional

and

deductive

reasoning in addition to usage, law of necessity, exigency

and changing times. The ijtihad‘done in accordance with

these principles, conditions and rules will be considered

appropriate otherwise it will remain an individual opinion.

How will ijtihad’get status of law in an Islamic

society?

After deep meditation and thorough reflection overthe matter,

my conclusion is that only the collective ijtihad‘should be

acceptable as law for Islamic state in the modern times.

Because of the existing divisive sectarian, class-based and

ethnic rifts in the body politic of the Muslim Umma,

‘individual’ijtihad‘cannot’play’its’effective’role’at’the’state

level. The variety and complexities of the problems in the

collective life also represent the fact that this  ijtihad‘should

have 'state consensus'. Its method should be such that each

Islamic state adopts the 'collective way' of ijtihad‘separately

in keeping with its peculiar conditions.

Every state should establish such a national institution

which has two houses:

1

.

General House or the House of Commons

2

.

Special House or the House of thePrivileged

Ijtihad:‘meanings,‘application‘&‘scope

45

The Special House should comprise eminent religious

scholars, leading jurists, specialized authors and experts ofthe

contemporary modern sciences etc. Such a selection can be

quota- and population-based, whereas the General House

should consist of the elected representatives of the whole

country. Minimum standard of education and morality should

be laid down for these representatives so that they are able to

fulfill demands of justice in the society and discriminate

between the fair and the foul.

Both of these Houses should do ijtihad‘for framing laws

and constitution of the state. Their %collective ijtihad‘should

be:

i.

subservient to the Holy Qur an and Sunna and should

followthe traditions of previously held consensus.

ii.

in accordance with the basic structure of the mainstream

jurisprudential school of thought but should also have

room for accommodation of other schools of thought

when needed.

iii. If two-house parliament feels, they should be in position

to get advice fromthe Islamic Ideology Council composed

of experts and technocrats on related matters.

On the pattern mentioned above, whatever  %collective

ijtihad‘ will‘emerge‘from‘this‘process‘will‘have‘the‘status‘of

law in an Islamic state and this advisory body will be called

parliament or national assembly or senate of Islamic state.

This mode of collective ijtihad‘was the most prevalent during

the Orthodox caliphate.

.

.