Is it what its called or is it ijttahaaD…( The islamic concept of scholars getting together to sort out policies…)
My understanding is that this is to help decide issues that either were not clearly addressed in the past or the previous decisions are not applicable in the changing times…
If we had to have Ijttahad , about somehting today, who would do it…the so called religious scholars who disagree with each other , and have no education in sociology , civics , politics and human psychology??? who are myopic in their thinking due to inadequate exposure??? Can we really trust their judgement about issues that require extensive knowledge of the above fields in addition to islamic teachings..?
If not then who shall do it…
If national assebly decides somehting ( theoratically speaking , in a well developed democracy, its the reflection of most of the ppl) could that be Islamic as it is within the spirit of Ijjmaa..
Does this mean well developed democracy is Islamic…
Is Islamic discussion only about " wazoo karnay Kaa saheH Tareeka"..
How come all with the muslims on this forum , there is no one who could comment on this...
I for one am not commenting on it because I do not know :)
It may come as a surprise to you but there are those who dont spend their time investigating theirs or other's religions.
If I have a question, I use my own faculties and use logic and common sense as the guide.
as far as fighting mullahs go who do not agree with one another. Most of them have no pull except on brainwashed, uneducated followers.
There is a differentiation between run of the mill so called mullah vs a religous scholar. There are institutes of learning where not only are people educated in the matters of the religion but social sciences, physical sciences, history etc.
Again, I dont know the answer to your question, because I personally never struggled with it, but there is a differentiation between a so called scholar..and an actual religous authority.
Of course there will be differences of opinions due to sects and all, bur scholars and fighting mullahs are not the same thing.
Wasn't ijtihad supposed to include everyone, not just scholars and mullahs?
Zara
From what I recall. Only a Mujtahid can do Ihtejad. There is a certain criteria that this person has to meet in terms of knowledge.
Thats all my limited knowledge has to offer.
So is anyone aware of the criteria for Ijjtahad( i mean someone who can be a part of it)Is it something laid out by quran , ( which raises an issue of its interpretation ) or is it hadith ( The accuracy of which is always debatable)
If there was to be an ijjtahad today , about means to find the Khalifa.....what might it be...Is there any way other then popular vote ....
Nova - I hope this helps!
Any new interpretations of the Quran and Hadith would require a quorum of Mujtahids to unanimously agree on an action (Ijma). The word 'Mujtahid' means an Islamic scholar who has attained to the grade of ijtihad.
If the mujtahids of a certain era did not agree unanimously by Ijma on how an action should be done and explained it differently, the scholars succeeding them follows the words of one of them and is not permissible for them to say differently. All scholars would need to have said unanimously that it must be so and thus ijma has resulted.
As declared in the Hadith, profound scholars who would attain to the grade of ijtihad would come every hundred years; unfortunately, there have been the Mujtahids within a madhhab (fiqah), who have not undertaken the task of doing qiyas, that is, performing new ijtihad for the benefit of all Islam; but these mujtahid have tried to renovate the ijtihad of the leader of the madhhab (fiqah) to which they have belonged, seeing that there was no need for new ijtihad and being interested in emphasizing the Ahl as-Sunnat knowledge.
Today, the majority of muslims have agreed not to deviate from the consensus of the Quran and Hadiths reached in the old age and are afraid to re-open Ijtihad for fear of committing bida’h or innovation. The door to Ijtihad has been closed now for centuries.
That sounds like what I have heard. I just wonder by what right they have decided to close the doors? I think there was yet a lot of reexamining yet to be done! And is there a reference to ijtihad in the Quran?
Zara
I don't think the doors are closed; only by a few minority schools of thought. There are still mujtahids all over the world doing ijtihad on current issues.
I think Mr. Xtreme is confusing Ulemas with Mujtahids.
There are Ulemas & Scholars of different fiqahs doing "their own propagation" - this is, by no means, considered Ijtihad.
The Ulemas have put this big bugaboo called bida'h to deter Ijtihad and, have consequently closed the door on it.
[This message has been edited by Adbulmalick (edited February 09, 2000).]
Could Achtung, Ali Abbas and Deepblue please comment on the subject matter i.e of Ijtihad.
I know you gents are following the going-ons of this forum and would appreciate if we can discuss this 'very important' issue.
So gentlemen: pls join us and share with us!
Thank you.
I would like to post the following excerpt, taken from the same source as my earlier post; link provided below.
Excerpt starts here:
There is not a Mujtahid in any part of the world today.
A Muslim who is not a Mujtahid is called a muqallid (follower).
Today, we all the Muslims on the earth are muqallids. No matter how much learned a muqallid is, he cannot do ijtihad over a matter disagreeing with what the Mujtahids have communicated before; this is understood from the unanimity quoted from Ibn Malak above. The hadith, “My umma will not agree on deviation,” indicates that this unanimity of scholars is a means of salvation and is correct.
End of excerpt.
Regardless of how I would like to disagree with Abdulmalick - he seems to be correct about “door being closed” for Ijtihad.
This does have serious implications for future development of Islamic thoughts and jurisprudence, as they are both de-facto frozen to interpretations of ages ago and do not/will not reflect changing times.
http://www.hizmetbooks.org/Religion_Reformers_in_Islam/ref-45.htm
CORRECTION EVERYBODY!!
The concept of Ijtihad is perhaps the most important vehicle for disseminating interpretations that are 'relevant' for relevant times; in other words, not following interpretations that are outdated.
For the Sunni muslims - the door of Ijtihad was shut after it had been kept widely open during the first three centuries of Islam; during this time it saw the development of the four Sunni school of laws or sects.
For Shia Isna Ashari - the door stayed open until their 12th Imam disappeared.
For Shia Ismailis - the door has stayed open with their Imam-e-Zama'an(Aga Khan), the descendent from the Ahle Bayt and, Ijtihad continues.