Editing Ijtihad (section)

==Etymology and definition==
The word derives from the [[triliteral|three-letter Arabic verbal root]] of {{lang|ar|ج-ه-د}} ''[[gimel (letter)|{{transliteration|ar|ALA|J}}]]-[[he (letter)|H]]-[[dalet|D]]'' (''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|jahada}}'', 'struggle'): the "t" is inserted because the word is a [[Arabic verbs#Formation of derived stems ("forms")|derived stem VIII]] verb. In its literal meaning, the word refers to effort, physical or mental, expended in a particular activity.<ref name=OEIW/> In its technical sense, ''ijtihad'' can be defined as a "process of legal reasoning and hermeneutics through which the jurist-mujtahid derives or rationalizes law on the basis of the [[Qur'an]] and the [[Sunnah|Sunna]]".<ref name=hallaq>{{cite book|last=Hallaq|first=Wael|title=The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law|year=2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

The juristic meaning of ijtihād has several definitions according to scholars of [[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|Islamic legal theory]]. Some define it as the jurist's action and activity to reach a solution. Al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) defines it as the "total expenditure of effort made by a jurist for the purpose of obtaining the religious rulings." Similarly the ijtihād is defined as "the effort made by the mujtahid in seeking knowledge of the ''[[Ahkam|aḥkām]]'' (rulings) of the [[sharī'ah]] (Islamic canonical law) through [[Judicial interpretation|interpretation]]."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kayadibi|first1=Saim|title=Principles of Islamic Law and the Methods of Interpretation of the Texts (Uṣūl al-Fiqh)|date=2017|publisher=Islamic Book Trust|location=[[Kuala Lumpur]]|isbn=978-967-0526-33-1|page=349}}</ref>

From this point of view that ijtihād essentially consists of an inference (''istinbāṭ'') that extents to a probability (''ẓann''){{clarify|date=February 2017}}{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}. Thus it excludes the extraction of a ruling from a clear text as well as rulings made without recourse to independent legal reasoning. A knowledgeable person who gives a ruling on the sharī'ah, but is not able to exercise their judgement in the inference of the rulings from the sources, is not called a mujtahid but rather a ''[[muqallid]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kayadibi|first1=Saim|title=Principles of Islamic Law and the Methods of Interpretation of the Texts (Uṣūl al-Fiqh)|date=2017|publisher=Islamic Book Trust|location=Kuala Lumpur|isbn=978-967-0526-33-1|page=350}}</ref>