Editing Ijtihad

{{Short description|Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Usul al-fiqh}}
{{Judicial interpretation}}
'''''Ijtihad''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɪ|dʒ|t|ə|ˈ|h|ɑː|d}} {{respell|IJ|tə|HAHD}};<ref>{{Cite book|title=Collins English Dictionary|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2018|isbn=978-0-008-28437-4|edition=13th|chapter=ijtihad}}</ref> {{langx|ar|اجتهاد}} ''{{transliteration|ar|ijtihād}}'' {{IPA|ar|ʔidʒ.tihaːd|}}, {{lit|physical effort||mental effort}})<ref name=OEIW>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Intisar A. |last= Rabb|title=Ijtihād|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|isbn= 978-0-19-530513-5|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0354|url-access=subscription }}</ref> is an [[Islam]]ic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in [[Islamic law]],<ref name=ODI>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ijtihad|chapter=Taqiyah |editor=John L. Esposito |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-512558-0 |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-978-0-19-512558-0-e-2338|chapter-url-access=subscription }}</ref> or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question.<ref name=OEIW/> It is contrasted with ''[[taqlid]]'' (imitation, conformity to legal precedent).<ref name=ODI/><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Taqlid|editor=John L. Esposito|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-512558-0|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001/acref-9780195125580-e-2339|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to classical [[Sunni]] theory, ''ijtihad'' requires expertise in the Arabic language, theology, revealed texts, and principles of jurisprudence (''[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|usul al-fiqh]]''),<ref name=ODI/> and is not employed where authentic and authoritative texts ([[Qur'an]] and [[hadith]]) are considered unambiguous with regard to the question, or where there is an existing scholarly consensus (''[[ijma]]'').<ref name=OEIW/> ''Ijtihad'' is considered to be a religious duty for those qualified to perform it.<ref name=ODI/> An [[Islamic scholar]] who is qualified to perform ''ijtihad'' is called a "''[[Ijtihad#Qualifications of a mujtahid|mujtahid]]''".<ref name=OEIW/><ref>sometimes spelt ''mojtahed''</ref>

For first five centuries of Islam, the practice of ''ijtihad'' continued in theory and practice among Sunni Muslims. It then first became subject to dispute in the 12th century.<ref name="B. Hallaq 20, 33">{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=16|issue=1|pages=20, 33|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref> By the 14th century, development of classic Islamic jurisprudence or ''[[fiqh]]'' prompted leading Sunni jurists to state that the main legal questions in Islam had been addressed, and to call for the scope of ''ijtihad'' to be restricted.<ref name=OEIW/> In the modern era, this gave rise to a perception amongst [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] scholars and sections of the Muslim public that the so-called "gate of ''ijtihad''" was closed at the start of the classical era.<ref name=OEIW/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gould |first=Rebecca |date=January 2015 |title=Ijtihād against Madhhab: Legal Hybridity and the Meanings of Modernity in Early Modern Daghestan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43908333 |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=50–51 |doi=10.1017/S0010417514000590 |jstor=43908333 |s2cid=121170987 }}</ref> While recent scholarship established that the practice of ''Ijtihad'' had never ceased in [[History of Islam|Islamic history]], the extent and mechanisms of legal change in the post-formative period remain a subject of debate.<ref name=katz/> Differences amongst the ''[[Faqīh|Fuqaha]]'' (jurists) prevented [[Sunni muslims|Sunni Muslims]] from reaching any consensus (''[[Ijma]]'') on the issues of continuity of ''Ijtihad'' and existence of ''Mujtahids''.<ref name="B. Hallaq 20, 33"/> Thus, Ijtihad remained a key aspect of Islamic jurisprudence throughout the centuries.<ref>{{Cite book|last=E. Campo|first=Juan |title=Encyclopedia of Islam|publisher=Facts On File, Inc. |year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 | location=New York|pages=346| quote= "..ijtihad has, in fact, been a key aspect of Islamic jurisprudence for centuries thereafter.""}}</ref> ''Ijtihad'' was practiced throughout the [[Early modern period]] and claims for ''ijtihad'' and its superiority over ''taqlid'' were voiced unremittingly.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=16|issue=1|pages=20|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995}}</ref>

Starting from the 18th century, Islamic reformers began calling for abandonment of ''taqlid'' and emphasis on ''ijtihad'', which they saw as a return to Islamic origins.<ref name=OEIW/> Public debates in the Muslim world surrounding ''ijtihad'' continue to the present day.<ref name=OEIW/> The advocacy of ''ijtihad'' has been particularly associated with the [[Salafi]]yya and [[modernist]] movements.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haykel |first=Bernard |title=Global Salafism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-933343-1 |editor-last=Meijer |editor-first=Roel |location=198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 USA |page=34, 43, 51 |chapter=Chapter 1: On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action}}</ref><ref name=OEIW/> Among contemporary Muslims in the West there have emerged new visions of ''ijtihad'' which emphasize substantive moral values over traditional juridical methodology.<ref name=OEIW/>

[[Shia]] jurists did not use the term ''ijtihad'' until the 12th century. With the exception of [[Zaydi]] jurisprudence, the early [[Imamate in Shia doctrine|Imami]] [[Shia Islam|Shia]] were unanimous in censuring ''Ijtihad'' in the field of law (''[[Ahkam]]''). After the Shiite embrace of various doctrines of [[Muʿtazila|Mu'tazila]] and classical Sunnite ''[[Fiqh]]'' (jurisprudence), this led to a change.<ref name=OEIW/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rahman |first=Fazlur |title=REVIVAL AND REFORM IN ISLAM: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism |publisher=One World Publications Oxford |year=2000 |isbn=1-85168-204-X |location=Oxford, England |pages=63–64}}</ref> After the victory of the [[Usuli|''Usulis'']] who based law on principles ([[Usul Fiqh in Ja'fari school|usul]]) over the [[Akhbari|''Akhbaris'']] ("traditionalists") who emphasized on reports or traditions (''khabar'') by the 19th century, ''Ijtihad'' would become a mainstream Shia practice.<ref name="Mohammad Farzaneh 2015 6">{{Cite book|last=Mohammad Farzaneh|first=Mateo|title=The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-8156-3388-4|location=Syracuse, New York |page=6}}</ref>

==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>

==Scriptural basis==
Islamic scholar [[Asghar Ali Engineer]] cites a [[hadith]] related by a [[Sahabah|sahabi]] (companion of the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]]) by the name of [[Muadh ibn Jabal]] (also Ma'adh bin Jabal), as the basis for ijtihad. According to the hadith from ''[[Sunan Abu-Dawud]]'', Book 24,<ref name="USC-24-3585">{{cite web|title=The Office of the Judge (Kitab Al-Aqdiyah). Book 24, Number 3585|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/abudawud/024-sat.php#024.3585|website=University of Southern California. Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|access-date=28 September 2016}}</ref> Muadh was appointed by Muhammad to go to [[Yemen]]. Before leaving he was asked how he would judge when the occasion of deciding a case arose.
{{blockquote|Ma'adh said, according to the Quran. The Prophet thereupon asked what he would do if he did not find the solution to the problem in the Quran, to which Ma'adh said he would govern according to the Sunnah. But when the Prophet asked if he could not find it in the Sunnah also, Ma'adh said "''ana ajtahidu''" (I will exert myself to find the solution). The Prophet thereupon patted his back and told him he was right.<ref name="USC-24-3585"/><ref name="ISI-1-2-13">{{cite news|last1=ALI ENGINEER|first1=ASGHAR|title=Is Sharia immutable?|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/782766/is-sharia-immutable|access-date=27 September 2016|agency=Dawn|date=1 February 2013}}</ref><ref>see also: {{cite web|last1=Hannan|first1=Shah Abdul|title=Islamic Jurisprudence (Usul Al Fiqh): Ijtihad|url=http://www.muslimtents.com/aminahsworld/Islamic_jurisprudence_ijtihad.html|website=Muslim tents|access-date=27 September 2016}}</ref>}}

==History==
===Formative period===

During the early period, ''ijtihad'' referred to the exertion of mental energy to arrive at a legal opinion (''ra'y'') on the basis of the knowledge of the Divine Revelation.<ref name=hallaq/> Jurists used ''Ijtihad'' to help reach legal rulings, in cases where the [[Qur'an]] and [[Sunnah|Sunna]] did not provide clear direction for certain decisions. It was the duty of the educated jurists to come to a ruling that would be in the best interest of the Muslim community and promote the public good.

As religious law continued to develop over time, ''ra'y'' became insufficient in making sure that fair legal rulings were being derived in keeping with both the [[Qur'an]] and [[Sunnah|Sunna]]. However, during this time, the meaning and process of ''ijtihad'' became more clearly constructed. ''Ijtihad'' was "limited to a systematic method of interpreting the law on the basis of authoritative texts, the Quran and Sunna".<ref>{{cite web|last=Esposito|first=John|title=Ijtihad|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t24/e150|work=The Islamic World: Past and Present|publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies Online}}{{dead link|date=January 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

As the practice of ''ijtihad'' transformed over time, it became religious duty of a ''mujtahid'' to conduct legal rulings for the Muslim society. ''Mujtahid'' is defined as a Muslim scholar that has met certain requirements including a strong knowledge of the [[Qur'an]], [[Sunnah|Sunna]], and Arabic, as well as a deep understanding of legal theory and the precedent; all of which allows them to be considered fully qualified to practice ''ijtihad''.<ref name="Oxford Islamic Studies">{{cite web|last=Esposito|first=John|title=Ijtihad|url=http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t243/e150|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022174928/http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t243/e150|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 22, 2014|work=The Islamic World: Past and Present|publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies Online|access-date=April 28, 2013}}</ref>

=== Classical era ===

==== Origins of the controversy ====
The controversy over the existence of ''Mujtahids'' began in its nascent form during the sixth/12th century. The fifth-century Hanbali jurist [[Ibn Aqil|Ibn 'Aqil]] (1040–1119) responding to a Hanafi jurist's statement, advocated for the necessity of existence of ''Mujtahids'' using scripture and reasoning. A century later, Shafi'i jurist [[Sayf al-Din al-Amidi|Al-Amidi]] would counter the premise of Hanbalis and prominent Shafīʿis arguing that extinction of ''Mujtahids'' is possible. Over the centuries, the controversy would garner more attention with the scholars gathering around 3 camps: 1) [[Hanbali]]s and majority of [[Shafiʽi school|Shafīʿis]] who denied the theoretical possibility of ''Mujtahid''<nowiki/>'s extinction 2) a group of jurists who asserted that extinction of ''Mujtahids'' is possible but not proven 3) a group who advocated the extinction of ''Mujtahids.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallaq|first=Wael B.|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=21–26|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

To validate their points, the scholars of ''Taqlid'' camp cited Prophetic ''hadiths'' that report the disappearance of knowledge when ignorant leaders "will give judgements" and misguide others. ''Muqallids'' also argued that ''Ijtihad'' isn't a communal obligation (''fard kifaya'') when it is possible to blindly imitate the laws of ancestors received through transmitted chains of narrations. Hanbalis, the staunch advocates of permanent existence of ''Mujtahids,'' countered by citing Prophetic reports which validated their view that knowledge and sound judgement would accompany the Muslim ''[[Ummah]]'' led by ''Mujtahid'' scholars until the [[Day of Resurrection|Day of Judgment]], thus giving theological implications to the controversy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallaq|first=Wael B.|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=22–25|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallaq|first=Wael B.|date=1986|title=On the Origins of the Controversy about the Existence of Mujtahids and the Gate of Ijtihad|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1595569|journal=Studia Islamica|publisher=Maisonneuve & Larose|number=63|pages=139–140|doi=10.2307/1595569|jstor=1595569}}</ref> They also raised the question of leadership and interpretive religious authority to vigorously deny the possibility of an age without ''Mujtahids'', a doctrine which they defended using both Scripultural and rational arguments. Citing Prophetic traditions such as "scholars are the heirs of the prophets", Hanbalis settled on the belief that God would not leave any age without a proper guide, i.e., Islamic ''[[Fuqaha]]'' (jurists) who solve novel issues through ''Ijtihad''.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Cook |editor-last2=Haider |editor-last3=Rabb |editor-last4=Sayeed |editor-first1=Michael |editor-first2=Najam |editor-first3=Intisar |editor-first4=Asma |title=Law and Tradition in Classical Islamic Thought|last=Rabb|first=Intisar A.|publisher=Palgrave Mcmillan|year=2013|isbn=978-0-230-11329-9|editor-first=|location=New York, NY |page=151|chapter=8: Islamic Legal Minimalism: Legal Maxims and Lawmaking When Jurists Disappear}}</ref>

The majority of Shafīʿi scholars were also leading advocates of ''Ijtihad'' as a ''fard kifaya'' (communal obligation). The prominent 16th century Shafi'i legal treatise ''[[Fat'h Ul Mueen|Fath-ul-Mueen]]'' affirmed the existence of ''Mujtahids'' and obligated them to take the post of [[Qadi]] as ''fard kifaya''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Makhdoom bin Sheikh Muhammad Al Gazzali |first=Ahmad Zainuddin |title=Fath-ul-Mu'een |publisher=Punkavanam Bookstall, Al Maktabatul Ghazzaliyya |year=2008 |location=Mangalore, Karnataka |pages=626–631 |chapter=Chapter 19: Judgements}}</ref> Leading Shafīʿi jurist [[Al-Suyuti]] (1445-1505) also stipulated ''Ijtihad'' as a communal obligation, the abandonment of which would be sinful upon the whole ''Ummah''. Shafīʿis also upheld the popular Muslim tradition of appearance of ''[[Mujaddid]]s'' who would renew the religion every century. As promoters of the idea of ''Mujaddids;'' (who were assumed as ''Mujtahids'') majority of jurists who claimed ''[[Tajdid]]'' or honoured as ''Mujaddids'' were Shafīʿis. On the other hand, some prominent Shafīʿi jurists like Al-Rafi'i (d. 623) had made statements speculating an "agreement" on the absence of ''Mujtahid Mutlaqs'' (highest-ranking ''Mujtahid'') during his era while few others affirmed theoretical possibility of absence of ''Mujtahids''. However, such statements had ambiguities in legal terminology and didn't stipulate an established consensus on the issue. In addition, Rafi'i himself was considered as a ''Mujtahid'' and a ''Mujaddid''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallaq|first=Wael B.|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=25–28|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

[[Al-Nawawi|Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi]] (d. 676/1277), a prominent Shafī'i [[Muhaddith]] and Jurist, who is a primary reference even for Shafiites of Taqleed camp; advocated that it isn't obligatory for laymen to adhere to a ''mad'hab'', reinforcing the orthodox Shafī'ite pro-Ijtihad position.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Aaliyah|first=Abu|date=17 October 2012|title=Practical Steps for Learning Fiqh|url=https://thehumblei.com/2012/10/17/practical-steps-for-learning-fiqh/amp/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200503064340/https://thehumblei.com/2012/10/17/practical-steps-for-learning-fiqh/amp/|archive-date=3 May 2020|website=Thehumblei}}</ref> Other prominent classical Shafī'i jurists who advocated the pro-Ijtihad position included [[Taj al-Din al-Subki|Taj ud Din al Subki]], [[Al-Dhahabi|Dhahabi]], [[Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam|Izz ud Deen Ibn Abdussalam]], [[Ibn al-Salah|Ibn al Salah]], [[Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini|Al Bulqini]], etc.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ansari|first=Abu Khuzaimah|date=2 April 2017|title=Answering the Book - Refutation of Those Who Do Not Follow The Four Schools PART 4 Was it The Norm to Only Follow the Four Madhabs in the seventh and eighth Century & The Existence of Other Madhabs|url=https://forum.salafiri.com/viewtopic.php?t=1386#p1518|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128163326/https://forum.salafiri.com/viewtopic.php?t=1386|archive-date=28 November 2020|website=Salafi Research Institute}}</ref> Taj ud Din al Subki (d. 1370) summed up the classical-era Shafi'i position in his ''Kitāb Mu'īd an-Ni'am wa-Mubīd an-Niqām'':{{blockquote|"It is unacceptable to Allah, the forcing of people to accept one madhab and the associated partisanship (tahazzub) in the subsidiary issues of the Din and nothing pushes this fervour and zealously except partisanship and jealousy. If Abu Haneefah, Shafi, Malik and Ahmad were alive they would severely censure these people and they would dissassociate themselves from them."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ansari|first=Abu Khuzaimah|date=2 April 2017|title=Answering the Book - Refutation of Those Who Do Not Follow The Four Schools and that Taqlid of them is Guidance|url=https://forum.salafiri.com/viewtopic.php?t=1386#p1518|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128163326/https://forum.salafiri.com/viewtopic.php?t=1386|archive-date=28 November 2020|website=Salafi Research Institute|quote=(Mu'eed an-Na'am Wa Mubeed an-Naqam pg.76)}}</ref>}}

==== Emergence of the "closure of the gates" notion ====
In contrast to the view of these Shafiites, classical Shafi'ite theologian [[Al-Juwayni|'Abd al-Malik al-Juwayni]] (d. 1085 C.E/ 478 A.H) postulated a new doctrine on the controversy of the existence of ''Mujtahids''. Juwaynī and his Shāfiʿī colleagues insisted that not only the disappearance of Mujtahids was possible, but that it had already happened. Juwayni's doctrine was taken by his student [[Al-Ghazali|Ghazālī]] (d.&nbsp;1111 C.E/ 505 A.H), al-Qaffāl al-Shāshī (d. 1113 C.E/507 A.H) and promoted in the next century by the Shafi'i scholars [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi|Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī]] (d. 606/1209), Sayf al-Dīn al-Āmidī (d. 631/1233), and Rāfiʿī (d. 623/1226). These scholars asserted the belief that ''Mujtahids'' had already disappeared, and some would claim a consensus on this point. Thereafter, the theory of legal minimalism elucidated by Juwayni in his book ''Ghiyāth al-umam fī iltiyāth al zulam'', penned for his [[Seljuk Empire|Seljuk]] patron Nizam ul-Mulk, would be popularised. This system listed a set of core principles that implemented legal and procedural minimalism; and attempted the standardisation of Islamic courts and legal framework in the [[Medieval Islam|medieval]] [[Muslim world|Muslim World]].<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Cook |editor-last2=Haider |editor-last3=Rabb |editor-last4=Sayeed |editor-first1=Michael |editor-first2=Najam |editor-first3=Intisar |editor-first4=Asma |title=Law and Tradition in Classical Islamic Thought |last=A. Rabb |first=Instisar|publisher=Palgrave Mcmillan|year=2013|isbn=978-0-230-11329-9 |place=New York, NY |pages=150–151, 153–157|chapter=8: Islamic Legal Minimalism: Legal Maxims and Lawmaking When Jurists Disappear}}</ref>

Most significantly, the influential Islamic theologian Al Ghazzali introduced the notion of closure of ''Ijtihad'' since he viewed numerous people with inadequate knowledge of ''Qur'an'' as claiming to be ''Mujtahids''. Ghazzali's emphasis on rigorous asceticism and imitation of traditions practised by Sufi mystics led him to attack rational enquiry and sciences like physics for contradicting religion. Owing to his status as a great scholar, numerous ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' followed his call; even though many continued to dispute it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ariani Arimbi|first=Diah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrhGD6ztEgoC&dq=Ghazali+gates+of+Ijtihad&pg=PA195|title=Reading Contemporary Indonesian Muslim Women Writers: Representation, Identity and Religion of Muslim Women in Indonesian Fiction|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year=2009|isbn=9789089640895|location=Amsterdam|pages=195}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Caryle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rjj48T4zrb8C&dq=Ghazali+gates+of+Ijtihad&pg=PA317|title=Passion for Islam: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience|publisher=Scribner|year=2007|isbn=978-1416569572|pages=317}}</ref> Intellectuals like [[Hassan Hanafi|Hasan Hanafi]] argue that Ghazali had tried to preclude the endeavour of ''Ijtihad'' during his era in order to establish a rigid, stable orthodoxy that could effectively challenge external enemies of Islam like the [[Crusades|Crusaders]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hardy|first=Roger|title=The Muslim Revolt: A Journey Through Political Islam |publisher=Hurst & Company |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84904-031-0 |location=London |page=18 |chapter=1: Dream of Revolt}}</ref> According to [[C. A. Qadir|C.A Qadir]], Ghazzali's efforts had tremendous impact in limiting the scope of ''Ijtihad'' in medieval Islamic orthodxy.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Naseem Rafiabadi|first=Hamid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3rEjofhC2oC&dq=Ghazali+gates+of+Ijtihad&pg=PA293|title=Emerging From Darkness: Ghazzali's Impact on the Western Philosophers|publisher=Sarup & Sons|year=2002|isbn=81-7625-310-3|location=New Delhi |pages=293}}</ref>

However, there is still a vigorous scholarly debate regarding whether Al-Ghazali had himself "closed the gates" or whether he merely continued an established policy of his scholarly predecessors or whether the gate was ever closed. According to James P. Piscatori, the provision for ''Ijtihad'' in Sunni ''[[Fiqh]]'' was never "tightly shut" and remained open to some extent.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Janin |last2=Kahlmeyer|first1=Hunt |first2=Andre |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtEdBgAAQBAJ&dq=Ghazali+gates+of+Ijtihad&pg=PA67 |title=Islamic Law: The Sharia from Muhammad's Time to the Present |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7864-2921-9 |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |page=67 |chapter=3: The Sharia and its Jurists}}</ref> During the 16th century, majority of the clerical classes would claim Ghazzali's doctrine as sacrosanct and inviolable by ''[[Consensus in Islamic law|Ijma]]'' (consensus).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldziher |first=Ignaz |title=Introduction to Islamic theology and Law |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1981 |isbn=0-691-07257-4 |location=Princeton, New Jersey, USA |pages=244–245 |translator-last=Hamori |translator-last2=Hamori |translator-first=Andras |translator-first2=Ruth |chapter=VI. Later Developments}}</ref> Post-classical era, a large part of Shafīʿi scholarship would also shift to a pro-''Taqleed'' position owing to external influence from [[Hanafi]]te-[[Maliki]]te ''Muqallid'' camps. Most noteworthy amongst them were [[Ibn Hajar al-Haytami]] (d. 1566). However many still defended ''Ijtihad'' while others who theoretically affirmed the disappearance of ''Mujtahids'' rejected the claim that they did in reality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=3–41|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

==== Late classical period ====
Until the end of the 14th century, no voice had before actively risen to condemn the claims of ''mujtahids'' to practice ''ijtihad'' within their schools. However, the doctrine of ''Taqlid'' was steadily amassing support amongst the masses. The first incident in which ''muqallids'' openly attacked the claims of ''mujtahids'' occurred in Egypt, during the lifetime of [[Al-Suyuti|Suyuti]]. Suyuti had claimed to practice the highest degree of ''Ijtihad'' within the Shafi'i school. He advocated that Ijtihad is a backbone of [[Sharia]] and believed in the continuous existence of ''Mujtahids''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=27|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

Around the 15th century, most Sunni jurists argued that all major matters of religious law had been settled, allowing for ''[[taqlid]]'' (تقليد), "the established legal precedents and traditions," to take priority over ''ijtihād'' (اجتهاد).<ref name="Oxford Islamic Studies" />{{request quotation|date=April 2016}} This move away from the practice of ''ijtihād'' was primarily made by the scholars of [[Hanafi|Hanafī]] and [[Maliki|Malikī]] schools, and a number of [[Shafii|Shafīʿi]]s, but not by [[Hanbali|Hanbalī]]s and majority of Shafīʿi jurists who believed that "true consensus" (''[[ijma|ijmāʿ]]'' اجماع), apart from that of Muhammad's Companions, did not exist" and that "the constant continuous existence of ''mujtahids'' (مجتهد) was a theological requirement."<ref name=WahhabiIslam>{{cite book|last=DeLong-Bas|first=Natana J.|author-link=Natana J. DeLong-Bas|title=Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad|url=https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]], USA|year=2004|page=[https://archive.org/details/wahhabiislamfrom0000delo/page/106 106]|edition=First|isbn=0-19-516991-3}}</ref> Although the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] clergy denied ''Ijtihad'' in theory'','' throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Hanafite ''ulema'' had practiced ''Ijtihad'' to solve a number of new legal issues. Various legal rulings were formulated on a number of issues, such as the [[Waqf]] of movables, on drugs, coffee, music, tobacco, etc. However to support the official doctrine of "extinction of ''Mujtahids''", the Ottoman ''ulema'' denied ''Ijtihad'' even when it was practised.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=30–32|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

The increasing prominence of ''taqlid'' had at one point led most Western scholars to believe that the "gate of ''ijtihad''" was in fact effectively closed around tenth century.<ref name=rabb/> In a 1964 monograph, which exercised considerable influence on later scholars, [[Joseph Schacht]] wrote that "a consensus gradually established itself to the effect that from that time onwards no one could be deemed to have the necessary qualifications for independent reasoning in religious law, and that all future activity would have to be confined to the explanation, application, and, at the most, interpretation of the doctrine as it had been laid down once and for all."{{#tag:ref| The  mid-twentieth century European authority on Islamic law Joseph Schacht, said that [...] Since the 1990s, a large and growing body of research has demonstrated the continuing creativity and dynamism of Islamic legal thinking in the post-formative period, as well as probed the lively dialectic between legal rulings and social practice. While it is no longer possible to assert that "the door of ijtihad was closed" after the tenth (or, indeed, any other) century, however, there is still lively debate over the extent of legal change and the mechanisms by which it occurred.<ref name=katz>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Age of Development and Continuity, 12th–15th Centuries CE|author=Marion Katz|editor1-first=Anver M|editor1-last=Emon|editor2-first=Rumee|editor2-last=Ahmed|encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Law|year=2015 |pages=436–458|publisher= Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199679010.013.14|isbn=978-0-19-967901-0|url-access=subscription |url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199679010.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199679010-e-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Schacht|first=Joseph|title=An Introduction to Islamic Law|publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1964|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois0000scha |url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontois0000scha/page/70 70]–71}}</ref>|group=Note}}

While more recent research is said to have disproven the notion that the practice of ''ijtihad'' was abandoned in the tenth century — or even later in the 15th century — the extent of legal change during this period and its mechanisms remain a subject of scholarly debate.<ref name=katz/><ref>Wael B. Hallaq, "On the origin of the Controversy about the Existence of Mutahids and the Gate of Ijtihad," ''Studia Islamica'', 63 (1986): 129</ref> The ''Ijtihad'' camp primarily consisted of Hanbalis and Shafiites, while the Taqlid camp were primarily Hanafites who were supported to a greater or lesser extent by Malikis as well as some Shafi'is.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=29|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

=== Ranking of Mujtahids ===

After the 11th century, Sunni legal theory developed systems for ranking jurists according to their qualifications for ''ijtihad''. One such ranking placed the founders of ''[[maddhab]]''s, who were credited with being "''absolute'' ''mujtahid''s" (''mujtahid muṭlaq'') capable of methodological innovation, at the top, and jurists capable only of ''taqlīd'' at the bottom, with ''mujtahid''s and those who combined ''ijtihād'' and ''taqlīd'' given the middle ranks.{{#tag:ref| After the eleventh century, Sunnī legal literature developed rankings of jurists according to their ability to practice ''ijtihād''. One predominant classification credited the founders of the legal schools with the distinction of being absolute ''mujtahid''s (''mujtahid muṭlaq'') who were capable of laying down a methodology of the law and of deriving from it the positive doctrines that were to dominate their respective schools. Accordingly, each legal school represented a different methodology for ''ijtihād''. Next came the ''mujtahid''s who operated within each school (''mujtahid muntasim'' or ''mujtahid fī al-madhhab''), who followed the methodology of the school's founder but proffered new solutions for novel legal cases. The lowest rank belonged to the ''muqallid'', the jurist-imitator who merely followed the rulings arrived at by the ''mujtāhid''s without understanding the processes by which these rulings were derived. Between the ranks of ''mujtahid''s and ''muqallid''s there were distinguished other levels of jurists who combined ''ijtihād'' with ''taqlīd''. [...] The settling of the major areas of Islamic law gave rise to the perception, prevalent among many modern Western scholars and Sunnī lay Muslims, that jurists had come to a consensus that the so-called "gate of ijtihād" (باب الاجتهاد ''bāb al-ijtihād'') was closed at the beginning of the tenth century.<ref name=rabb>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ijtihād|author=Intisar A. Rabb|encyclopedia= The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|year=2009 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0354|url-access=subscription }}</ref>|group=Note}} In the 11th century, jurists required a ''[[mufti]]'' (jurisconsult) to be a ''mujtahid''; by the middle of the 13th century, however, most scholars considered a ''muqallid'' (practitioner of ''taqlīd'') to be qualified for the role. During that era some jurists began to ponder whether practitioners of ''ijtihad'' continued to exist and the phrase "closing of the gate of ''ijtihād''" (إغلاق باب الاجتهاد ''iġlāq bāb al-ijtihād'') appeared after the 16th century.{{#tag:ref|In the eleventh century, jurists defined a jurisconsult as being a ''mujtahid'' (i.e., one who has the ability to independently reason; the highest rank of a jurist). By the middle of the thirteenth century, however, it appears that the prerequisites were lowered, and jurisconsults were expected – by most, but not all scholars – to be'' muqallid''s (i.e., able to articulate a legal opinion based on the precedents and methodology of a particular legal school; a lower rank than ''mujtahid'').<ref>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ| year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=218}}</ref>|group=Note}}<ref name="WahhabiIslam" />

However, these rankings have been criticized for its arbitrariness. Many other distinguished scholars have been recorded by scholars as ''Mujtahid Mutlaqs'' even after the deaths of four ''Imams'' (to whom the four schools are attributed). Also, various schools were subject to transformation and evolution through time in ways that their founders had not imagined. The founders themselves had not stipulated many such rankings or classifications. Nor did they obligate strict adherence to a particular scholar or legal theory. In many cases, major parts of the legal theory were in fact developed by the later followers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|title=AUTHORITY, CONTINUITY, AND CHANGE IN ISLAMIC LAW|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-521-80331-4|location=New York|pages=120–135}}</ref>

The classical [[Hanbali]] theologian [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya]] (d. 1328 C.E/ 728 A.H) was a notable figure who dissented from the prevalent ''Madh'hab''-based ranking standardisations and classifications. Arguing that the practice of ''Ijtihad'' is allowed for every Muslim, Ibn Taymiyya writes:{{blockquote|"...doors of ''ijtihād'' are open even to laymen, who are permitted to practice ''ijtihād'' without fear of punishment: the muftī, the soldier and the layman. If they speak according to their ''ijtihād'' ..., intending to follow the Messenger to the extent of their knowledge, they do not deserve punishment; this is so by the [[Ijma|consensus]] of the [[Muslims]], even if they have erred in a matter for which consensus already exists."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Al-Atawneh|first=Muhammad|title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity|publisher=Brill|year=2010|isbn=978-90-04-18469 5|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|pages=66|chapter=4: Modern Wahhabi Jurisprudence}}</ref>}}

Legal schools(''mad'habs'') had begun to take shape by the middle of the fourth/tenth century and practice of affiliating to the madhabs began to become popular. Systematic categorisation of ''Mujtahids'' emerged during late fifth/eleventh century into ranks of excellence. By doing so, they sought to facilitate the ''Ijtihad'' of qualified [[Mufti]]s. The earliest known typology of jurists is [[Averroes|Ibn Rushd]]'s (d. 520/1126) tripartite classification of Muftis. In this typology, the top-Mufti was a ''Mujtahid'' (like Ibn Rushd himself) while the latter two ranks weren't, i.e., a ''Mujtahid'' must independently reason on the basis of Scriptures and general principles of the school. On the other hand, Ghazzali distinguished between two ranks of ''Mujtahids'', the independent(''Mutlaq'') and the affiliated(''Muqayyad'') in a three-rank classification. In the seventh century, Shafi'i jurist [[Ibn al-Salah]] (d. 643/1245) would elaborate a five rank classification of Muftis. During the 10th/16th century, Ottoman Shaykh al-Islam [[Ibn Kemal|Ammad Ibn Kamal]] (d. 940/1533) articulated a Hanafite typology of jurists with seven ranks. Unlike the previous typologies, the latter classification was promoted by ''Taqlid'' partisans who advocated that ''Mujtahids'' ceased to exist. All these classifications created an archetype of an ideal standard to which all other typologies must conform, i.e., the founders of 4 schools. However, this typological conception of the founder ''Mujtahid'' suffered from chronological ruptures, overlooking in the process the founder's predecessors as well as his immediate intellectual history that formed a continuity. Although the founder imams were accomplished jurists, they were not as absolutely and as categorically as they were portrayed to be, starting from the 5th/11th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|title=Authority, Continuity and Change in Islamic Law|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2004|isbn=0-521-80331-4|location= Cambridge, UK|pages=1–30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=28–30|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref> Ibn Kamal's seven-rank typology, in particular, would come under scathing criticism by other Hanafites as well, such as [[Muhammad Bakhit al-Muti'i]] (1854 or 1856 — 1935), who was the [[Grand Mufti]] of Al-Azhar.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Atif Ahmad|first=Ahmad|title=The Fatigue of the Shari'a|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|year=2012|isbn=978-1-349-34292-1|location=New York|pages=39–40}}</ref>

Many Islamic reformers, starting from the 18th century would criticize these classifications altogether, since these classifications assumed every Mufti in terms of leaders and followers, affiliated to the founder imams and succeeding generations who are progressively inferior to knowledge of imams.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite journal|last=Peters|first=Rudolph|date=September 1980|title=Ijtihad and Taqlid is 18th and 19th century Islam|url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|journal=Die Welt des Islams|publisher=University of Amsterdam|volume=XX, 3-4|pages=131–145|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217064715/https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2019}}</ref> Faithful to the tenets of Ibn Taymiyya and [[Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] (1792 C.E/ 1206 A.H), the Wahhabi movement called for ''Ijtihad'' and opposed ''[[Taqlid]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Al-Atawneh|first=Muhammad|title=Wahhābī Islam Facing the Challenges of Modernity|publisher=Brill|year=2010|isbn=978-90-04-18469 5|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|pages=64|chapter=4: Modern Wahhabi Jurisprudence|quote="Faithful to the tenets of Ibn Taymiyya and Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, contemporary Wahhābīs champion ijtihād and restrict blind taqlīd."}}</ref> Advocating the Wahhabi stance on ''Ijtihad'', 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan [[Al ash-Sheikh|Aal-Al Shaykh]] (1196-1285 A.H / 1782-1868 C.E), influential ''[[Qadi]]'' of the [[Emirate of Nejd]], asserts:{{blockquote|".. when a scholar does his best to come to a right decision or verdict concerning a certain matter, if his verdict is right, he will get a double reward, and even if his verdict is wrong, he will still get a reward.... one who prefers the verdict of a scholar to the authorized proof, is to be severely rebuked. It is not permissible to imitate other scholars save in matters of ''ljithad''," which do not contain a proof from the Glorious ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' or the Prophetic ''[[Sunnah]]''. This is what is called by scholars, "There should be no denial in matters of ''ljtihad''." But, as for those who disagree with this or act otherwise, they should be rebuked and blamed.., this issue has gained the consensus of all scholars, as stated by lmam [[Al-Shafi'i|Ash-Shafi'i]]."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ibn Hasan Aal-Sheikh|first='Abdur-Rahman|title=Fath al-Majeed: Sharh Kitab al-Tawhid|publisher=Dar al Manarah|year=2002|isbn=977-6005-18-7|location=El Mansoura, Egypt|pages=369–370|translator-last=Al-Halawani|translator-first='Ali As-Sayed|trans-title=Divine Triumph: Explanatory Notes on the Book of Tawheed|chapter=38: Taking Scholars or Rulers as Partners Besides Allah}}</ref>}}

The 18th-century [[Islah|Islamic reformer]] and top-most ''Qadi'' of Yemen, [[Al-Shawkani]] (1759-1839) totally rejected the theory of classification of ''Mujtahids''. According to him, there is only one form of ''Ijtihad'' which can be practised by anybody possessing sufficient knowledge. Shawkani maintains that it is sufficient for a scholar to study one compendium in each of the five disciplines to practice ''Ijtihad''. According to Shawkani, the ''Muqallids'' who propagate the closure of ''Ijtihad'' and argue that only the four Imams can understand ''Qur'an'' and ''Sunnah'' are guilty of:

{{blockquote|"(telling lies) about Allah and accuse Him of being not capable of creating people that understand what is His law for them and how they must worship Him. They make it appear as if what he has enacted for them through His Book and His Messenger, is not an absolute but a temporary law, restricted to the period before the rise of the madhhabs. After their appearance, there was no Book and no Sunnah anymore [if these people are to be believed], but there emerged persons that enacted a new law and invented another religion..., by their personal opinions and sentiment."}}

This view would influence many 19th and 20th century Salafi reform movements.<ref name="auto1"/>

=== Modern era ===

During the turn of the 16th to 17th century, [[Sunni]] Muslim reformers began to criticize [[taqlid]], and promoted greater use of ''ijtihad'' in legal matters. They claimed that instead of looking solely to previous generations for practices developed by religious scholars, there should be an established doctrine and rule of behavior through the interpretation of original foundational texts of Islam—the [[Qur'an]] and [[Sunnah|Sunna]].<ref name="Oxford Islamic Studies" />{{request quotation|date=April 2016}}

During the 18th century, Islamic revivalists increasingly condemned the ''Muqallid'' camp through a mass of writings explaining the evils of ''Taqlid'' and advocating ''Ijtihad'' as well as defending its status as a Divinely established principle in sharia. This would often result in violence between their followers. Most prominent amongst them were [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]], [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], [[Al-Shawkani|Shawkani]], Muhammad ibn Isma'il Al-San'aani, Ibn Mu'ammar, [[Ahmad ibn Idris al-Fasi]], [[Usman dan Fodio|Uthman Ibn Fudio]], [[Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi]], etc.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=32|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

Shah Waliullah Dehlawi was an ardent advocate of ''Ijtihad'' and considered it essential for the vigour of society. Re-inforcing the classical theory, he considered Ijtihad to be ''fard kifaya'' (communal obligation). Condemning the prevalent partisanship over ''Taqleed'' he denounced the ''Muqallid'' camp as the misguided "simpletons of our time". He considered himself as a ''Mujtahid'' of the highest rank affiliated to Hanafi school.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Baljon|first=J. M. S.|url=http://www.katinkahesselink.net/sufi/baljon-dihwahli.html|title='Religion and Thought of Shah Wali Allah Dihlawi', 1703–1762|publisher=Brill Academic Pub|year=1986|pages=87–88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |journal=Pakistan Journal of Islamic Research |volume=12 |date=2013 |last1=Fateh Muhammad |last2=Muhammad Burfat |last3=Muhammad|first1=Aazadi |first2=Fateh |first3=Ghulam|title=Sociological Thought of Shah Wali Ullah|url=https://iri.aiou.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/eng-10-Fateh-Ghulam-04-11-13-OK.pdf  |via=iri.aiou.edu.pk |pages=129–143}}</ref>

In his treatise ''Usul al-Sittah'' (Six Foundations), Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab harshly rebuked the ''Muqallids'' for raising the description of ''Mujtahids'' to humanely unattainable levels. He also condemned the practice of obligating ''Taqleed'' which deviated people away from Qur'an and Sunnah. In similar terms, Yemeni scholar Shawkani too condemned the practice of rigid ''Taqleed''. Demonstrating the perpetual existence of Mujtahids in his works, Shawkani also argued that ''Ijtihad'' at later times was far easier due to detailed manuals unavailable for jurists of the past era.<ref>{{Cite web|last=ibn Abd al-Wahhab|first=Muhammad|title=The Six Foundations|url=http://salafipublications.com/sps/downloads/pdf/SCL070001.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220172400/http://www.salafipublications.com/sps/downloads/pdf/SCL070001.pdf|archive-date=20 December 2020|website=Salafi Publications}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=32–33|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref>

Amongst the eighteenth-century reformers, the most radical condemnation of ''Taqlid'' and advocacy of ''Ijtihad'' was championed by the Arabian scholar Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, whose uncompromising reformist efforts often turned violent. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab condemned the centuries-long heritage of jurisprudence (''[[Fiqh]]'') that coalesced into four schools (''mad'habs'') as an innovation. Challenging the authority of religious clerics, and a large portion of the classical scholarship, he proclaimed the necessity of directly returning to Qur'an and hadith, rather than relying on medieval interpretations. According to Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, in order to uphold true monotheism (''Tawhid''), Muslims should return to the pristine Islam of the early generations (''[[Salaf]]''), stripped of all human additions and speculations.<ref>{{Cite book|last=C. Martin|first=Richard|title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|year=2004|isbn=0-02-865603-2| location=New York|pages=728, 6| quote="Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, along with other Muslim reformers of the eighteenth century, was one of the most important proponents of independent legal judgment (ijtihad) of his time." ... "Among the "innovations" condemned by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was the centuries-long heritage of jurisprudence (fiqh) that coalesced into four Sunni schools of law"... "Ibn Abd al-Wahhab challenged the authority of the religious scholars (ulema), not only of his own time, but also the majority of those in preceding generations... scholars had injected unlawful innovations (bida) into Islam, he argued. In order to restore the strict monotheism (tawhid) of true Islam, it was necessary to strip the pristine Islam of human additions and speculations.. Thus, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab called for the reopening of ijtihad" }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=L. Esposito|first=John|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-19-512558-4 |location=New York|pages=123| quote= (Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab).. Proclaimed the necessity of returning directly to the Quran and hadith, rather than relying on medieval interpretations... Opposed taqlid.. Called for the use of ijtihad}}</ref> In his legal treatises such as ''Mukhtasar al-Insaf wa al-Sharh al-Kabir'', Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab weighed in legal opinions between different schools, opening the realm to comparative Fiqh thinking and often referring the conclusions of Ibn Taymiyya.<ref>{{Cite book|last=M. Zarabozo|first=Jamal al-Din |title=The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab |publisher=The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawah and Guidance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |year=2005|isbn=9960-29-500-1 |location=Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |pages=148–151}}</ref> This legal approach of drawing inferences directly from Qur'an and Hadith (''istinbat''), instead of ''taqlid'' to one of the 4 law schools, as well as his prohibition of ''Taqlid'', drew sharp condemnation from the ''Muqallid'' camp. In a scathing response, Muhammad Ibn 'Abdul Wahhab accused his detractors of taking "the scholars as lords"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=M. Bunzel|first=Cole|title=MANIFEST ENMITY: The Origins, Development, and Persistence of Classical Wahhabism (1153-1351/1741-1932)|publisher=Princeton University|year=2018|location=Princeton, NJ | journal= Near Eastern Studies| quote= "he rails against Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, for drawing inferences directly from the Qurʾān and the ḥadīth(istinbāṭ) as opposed to emulating (taqlīd) one of the four law schools" ... "Ibn al-Ṭayyib also criticizes Ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb for... claiming ijtihād, prohibiting taqlīd.." .. "he describes his position with respect to scholarly authority as neither taqlīd nor ijtihād, but rather ittibāʿ.. where they are not agreed, "I submit the matter to God and His prophet.. To do otherwise, he says in the same letter, invoking Q. 9:31, would be "to take the scholars as lords" (ittikhādh al-ʿulamāʾ arbāban)" | pages=49–50, 57–58, 155, 156 }}</ref> and vehemently condemned ''taqleed'' as the biggest principle of the ''kuffar'' (disbelievers), in his treatise ''Masa'il al-Jahiliyya'' (Aspects of the Days of Ignorance) writing : {{blockquote|"Their religion was built upon certain principles, the greatest of which was ''taqleed'' (blind following). So this was the biggest principle for all of the disbelievers – the first and last of them"<ref>{{Cite book|last=M. Zarabozo|first=Jamal al-Din |title=The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab |publisher=The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawah and Guidance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia |year=2005|isbn=9960-29-500-1 |location=Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |page=107|quote="Thus ibn Abdul-Wahhab noted about those who blindly follow, "Their religion is built upon some principles, the greatest being taqleed. It is the greatest maxim for all the disbelievers, from the first to the last of them.""}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab |first=Muhammad |title=Masa'il al Jahiliyya Aspects of the Days of Ignorance| quote= "Their religion was built upon certain principles, the greatest of which was taqleed (blind following). So this was the biggest principle for all of the disbelievers– the first and last of them"..}}</ref>}}

In face of the backlash towards Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's uncompromising stance in his rejection of taqlid, advocacy of Ijtihad and radical anti-madhab views,<ref>{{Cite book|last=E. Campo|first=Juan |title=Encyclopedia of Islam|publisher=Facts On File, Inc. |year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-5454-1 | location=New York|pages=704| quote= "Wahhabism.. also was opposed to key doctrines held by most Sunni ulama, such as adherence (taqlid) to the cumulative tradition of jurisprudence (fiqh).."}}</ref> the later Wahhabis became more conciliatory towards traditional four schools of Fiqh. [[Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Sheikh|Abdallah]], the son of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab also toned down the radical anti-Taqlid stances by stating that they affiliate themselves to the Hanbali school and do not condemn the common people who make taqleed to the four schools of jurisprudence.<ref>{{Cite web|date= August 2011|title=Shaykh Abd Allaah Bin Muhammad Bin Abd Al-Wahhaab on Fiqh, Ijtihaad, Madhhabs and Taqlid |url=http://www.wahhabis.com/articles/fgxss-shaykh-abd-allaah-bin-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhaab-on-fiqh-ijtihaad-madhhabs-and-taqlid.cfm | url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507224721/http://www.wahhabis.com/articles/fgxss-shaykh-abd-allaah-bin-muhammad-bin-abd-al-wahhaab-on-fiqh-ijtihaad-madhhabs-and-taqlid.cfm |archive-date=7 May 2017 | quote= "And also we are upon the madhhab of Imaam Ahmad bin Hanbal in the matters of jurisprudence, and we do not show rejection to the one who made taqleed of one of the four Imaams.." |website= 'Wahhabis'.com}}</ref> The earliest substantial Wahhabite treatise on ''Ijtihad'' was written by the scholar Ibn Mu'ammar (d. 1810), a student of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and a ''[[Qadi]]'' of [[Emirate of Diriyah|First Saudi state]]. In his treatise "''Risalat al-Ijtihad wal Taqlid''", Ibn Muammar gave respect to the four traditional Sunni schools of law and distinguished between two ranks of ''Mujtahids'': independent ''Mujtahid'' and ''Mujtahid al-Muqayyid'' bound to the ''Imams''. According to Ibn Mu'ammar, ''Taqlid'' is permissible for laymen and scholar without sufficient knowledge, but forbidden for those who can comprehend the bases of the law. Unlike Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Mu'ammar permitted laypeople to make ''Taqleed'' to trustworthy scholars, with certain reservations. Despite this, he also criticized strict adherence to a ''madhab'' and denounced ''mad'hab'' fanaticism as a ''bid'ah'' (innovation). According to Ibn Mu'ammar, the opinions of Imams should be discarded if they differ from authentic Prophetic traditions.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Peters|first=Rudolph|date=September 1980|title=IJTIHAD AND TAQLID IN 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY ISLAM|url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510084450/https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|archive-date=10 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=ibn Nāṣir ibn Muʿammar|first=Ḥamād|title=Risalah fi'l-Ijtihad wa'l-Taqlid (Treatise on Ijtihad and Taqlid)|publisher=Dar al-Andalus|location=Jeddah|quote="The lay-people haven't ceased – since the time of the Companions, the Successors, and their followers – asking their scholars about rulings of the shari'ah. Scholars, in turn, have readily responded to such queries without necessarily mentioning proofs; nor did they forbid this to them in the least. So this is a point of consensus on the lawfulness of the laity making taqlid of their mujtahid scholars, and that they are only required to do this of one whom they consider to be a scholar."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Taqlid & Madhhabs: The Good, Bad and the Ugly [1/2] |url=https://thehumblei.com/2017/11/08/understanding-taqlid-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-1-2/ |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102063307/https://thehumblei.com/2017/11/08/understanding-taqlid-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly-1-2/ |archive-date=2 January 2018| website= The Humble i|date=8 November 2017 }}</ref>

Outlining the conventional Wahhabi legal theory which harmonised the ''[[madhhab]]'' system with the practice of Ijtihad, Ibn Mu'ammar writes:<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=66–67, 70, 73 |chapter=}}</ref><blockquote>"Adopting the [revealed] proof [for a position] without considering the statements of [other] ''ulama'' is the function of the absolute mujtahid... [Laity are] obligated to practice taqlid and to consult those with knowledge.. [But the idea that one must always follow a single school] is a false view which Satan has cast upon many claimants to knowledge. ... [T]hey imagine that study of the proofs is a difficult matter, of which only an absolute mujtahid is capable... [They have even arrived at a claim] that one associated with the school of an imam is obliged to accept that school... even if it differs with the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and the ''[[Sunnah|sunna]]''. Thus, the imam of the school is to the members of his school as the [[Muhammad in Islam|Prophet]] is to his [[Ummah|Community]], ... You will [also] find the fanatic adherents of the schools in many matters differing with the explicit positions of their imams, and following the views of the latecomers in their school,.. the books of the predecessors are hardly found among them."<ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Vogel |first=Frank |title=Islamic Law and Legal System: Studies of Saudi Arabia |publisher=Brill |year=2000 |isbn=9004110623 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=66–67, 70 |chapter=}}</ref></blockquote>

Ahmad Ibn Idris Al-Fasi also emphasized on the practice of ''ijtihad''. His criticism of ''Taqleed'' of the schools of law ([[madhhab]]s) was based on three concerns. First, the need for following the Prophetic traditions.<ref name="Dajani, Samer p. 12">Dajani, Samer, Reassurance for the Seeker, p. 12.</ref> Second, to reduce divisions between the Muslims.<ref name="Dajani, Samer p. 12"/> Third, mercy for the Muslims, because there were 'few circumstances on which the Quran and Sunna were genuinely silent, but if there was a silence on any question, then that silence was intentional on God's part- a divine mercy.'<ref name="Sedgwick, Mark p. 15">Sedgwick, Mark, Saints and Sons, p. 15.</ref> He therefore rejected any 'attempt to fill a silence deliberately left by God, and so to abrogate one of His mercies.'<ref name="Sedgwick, Mark p. 15"/>

His student, [[Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sanusi]] also followed in his footsteps. In his work ''Al-Bughya'', Al Sanusi advocates for the need to practice ''Ijtihad''. The most detailed treatise by Al-Sanusi on the topic of ''Ijtihad'' is ''Iqaz al-wasnan fi 'l-'amal bi'l-hadith wa'l-Qur`an.'' Quoting Ibn Taymiyya, Al Sanusi emphasizes on the principle of fallibility of the Imams of the ''madhabs'' and the obligation to follow the ''Sunnah''. The opinions of the four Imams should only be used for a better understanding of ''[[Fiqh]]''. Following [[Ibn Hazm]] and Shawkani, Sanussi asserted that ''taqlid'' is ''[[Bidʻah|bid'ah]]''(innovation) and fully condemned it. Sanussi distinguished between the independent ''Mujtahid'' and the affiliated ''Mujtahid'' and affirmed the existence of the affiliated ''Mujtahid'' in every age. He also objected to ''Taqlid'' and emphasized that ''Qur'an'' and ''Sunna'' must be given precedence over the opinions of Mujtahids, even in cases where the 4 ''Imams'' are wrong.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|last=S. Vikør|first=Knut|date=June 1995|title=The development of ijtihad and Islamic reform, 1750-1850|url=https://org.uib.no/smi/paj/Vikor.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310085644/http://org.uib.no/smi/paj/Vikor.html|archive-date=10 March 2018}}</ref><ref name="auto2">{{Cite web|last=Peters|first=Rudolph|date=September 1980|title=Ijtihad and Taqlid in 18th and 19th Century Islam|url=https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217064715/https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/1486104/94781_Ijtihad_and_taqlid.pdf|archive-date=17 February 2019|publisher=University of Amsterdam}}</ref>

Remarkably, all these reformers shared common points of contact in [[Hejaz|Hijaz]] and a network of scholars with a Hijazi-Yemeni centre. Shah Waliullah Dehlawi and [[Muhammad Hayyat ibn Ibrahim al-Sindhi|Muhammad Hayat as-Sindi]] were pupils of Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Al Kurrani Al Kurdi as well as connected to [[Ibrahim al-Kurani|Ibrahim Ibn Hasan Al Kurrani Al Kurdi]] (d. 1690) and AbuI-Baqa' al-Hasan ibn 'Ali al- Ajami (d. 1702). Al-Sanusi is also linked with these scholars via his teacher al-Badr b. 'Amir al-Mi'dani who was a student of Al-Sindi as well as via other independent chains. Al-Shawkani is connected to Ibrahim Al-Kurrani via his teacher Yusuf Ibn Muhammad.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto2"/>

Outside these circles, some scholars amongst traditional Sufi circles were also in favour of Ijtihad. These included the prominent Ottoman Hanafite jurist [[Ibn Abidin]] (1784-1836) who is a scholarly authoritaty for even Hanafites of the ''Taqleed'' camp. Ibn Abidin employed ''Ijtihad'' in order to issue fatwas, using reasoning and believed that ''ijtihad'' was acceptable to use in certain circumstances. According to Ibn Abidin, Hanafite Muftis should look up to rulings of Abu Hanifa, then Abu Yusuf, then Shaybani, then Zufar and then some lesser jurists for fatwas.<ref>Gerber (1999), 88</ref>{{full citation needed|date=December 2024}} However, if a previous Hanafi scholar hasn't found an answer to the issue, then he should employ ''Ijtihad'' to solve the novel issue.<ref>Gerber (1999), 126</ref> According to Ibn Abidin, it is not obligatory to follow a particular ''mad'hab'' as well.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sultan al-Ma'soomee al-Khajnadee|first=Shaykh Muhammad|url=https://dhivehi.mv/islamic-library/books/Misc/Blind%2520following%2520of%2520madhhabs.pdf|title=THE BLIND FOLLOWING OF MADHHABS|chapter=5. WILL IT BE ASKED IN THE GRAVE ABOUT WHICH MADHHAB ONE FOLLOWED?}}</ref>

==== Contemporary debates over Ijtihad ====
On the issue of existence of ''Mujtahids'' and continuity of ''Ijtihad'', contemporary scholarship are divided into two diametric camps, and a third moderate camp:

1) Those who oppose ''Ijtihad'': These include the Orientalist scholars who view that "Gates of ''Ijtihad'' are closed". Sufi groups such as [[Barelvi]]s, [[Deobandi]]s, etc. believe that ''Mujtahids'' have ceased to exist. Some others such as [[Said Nursî|Said Nursi]] is not theoretically against ''Ijtihad'', but advocates postponing ''Ijtihad'' to a later time when Muslims attain sufficient strength.

2) Those who advocate ''Ijtihad'': These include [[Salafi movement|Salafi]] scholars and [[Islamic modernism|Islamic modernists]] who believe in the existence of ''Mujtahids''. Salafis argue that ''Ijtihad'' doesn't have a gate, but only pre-requisites. Others who advocate Ijtihad include [[Muhammad Iqbal]], [[Muhammad Asad]], etc. Recent scholars in academia such as [[Wael Hallaq]] are also its supporters.

3) Those who take an intermediary position.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kesgin|first=Salih|date=2011|title=A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SCHACHT'S ARGUMENT AND CONTEMPORARY DEBATES ON LEGAL REASONING THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC JURISPRUDENCE|url=http://www.sosyalarastirmalar.com/cilt4/sayi19_pdf/2_tarih_uluslararasi/kesgin_salih.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjn6qi3wervAhU973MBHdYJCgoQFjAAegQIAxAC&usg=AOvVaw2R1hsFf70xj8BGDD3Io2V3|journal=The Journal of International Social Research|volume=4|issue=19|pages=160–163|via=Sosyalarastirmalar.Com}}</ref>

====Islamic modernism====
{{Main|Islamic modernism}}
Starting in the middle of the 19th century, [[Islamic modernism|Islamic modernist]]s such as Sir [[Sayyid Ahmed Khan]], [[Jamal al-din Al-Afghani]], and [[Muhammad Abduh]] emerged seeking to revitalize Islam by re-establish and reform [[Sharia|Islamic law]] and its interpretations to accommodate Islam with modern society.<ref name=USIP>{{cite web|title=Ijtihad: Reinterpreting Islamic Principles for the 21st Century |url=http://dspace.cigilibrary.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/15036/1/Ijtihad%20Reinterpreting%20Islamic%20Principles%20for%20the%20Twenty%20first%20Century.pdf?1|work=United States Institute of Peace Special Report |publisher=United States Institute of Peace|access-date=May 3, 2013}}</ref> They emphasized the use of ''ijtihad'', but in contrast to its original use,<ref name="NYU">{{cite web|title=Voices of a New Ijtihad|url=http://islamuswest.org/publications_islam_and_the_West/Who_Speaks_For_Islam/Who-Speaks-For-Islam_21.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105172407/http://islamuswest.org/publications_islam_and_the_West/Who_Speaks_For_Islam/Who-Speaks-For-Islam_21.html |archive-date=2016-01-05|work=Center for Dialogues|publisher=NYU|access-date=May 2, 2013}}</ref> they sought to "apply contemporary intellectual methods" such as academic or scientific thought "to the task of reforming Islam".<ref name="NYU" /> Al-Afghani proposed the new use of ''ijtihad'' that he believed would enable [[Muslims]] to think critically and apply their own individual interpretations of the innovations of modernity in the context of [[Islam]].<ref name="NYU" />

One modernist argument for applying ijtihad to sharia law is that while "the principles and values underlying Sharia (i.e. ''usul al-fiqh'')" are unalterable, human interpretation of sharia is not.<ref name="Hussain-IotiL-2013">{{cite web|last1=Hussain|first1=Tanveer |title=Immutability of the Islamic Laws|url=http://quranicteachings.org/immutability-of-islamic-laws/ |website=quranicteachings.org |access-date=12 April 2018 |date=16 November 2013}}</ref><ref name="ISI-1-2-13"/> Another, (made by [[Asghar Ali Engineer]] of India), is that the ''adaat'' (customs and traditions) of Arabs were used in the development of the sharia, and form an important part of it. They are very much not divine or immutable, and have no more legal justification to be part of the sharia than the ''adaat'' of Muslims—Iranians, Uzbeks, Turks, Chinese, Indians and others—living beyond the home of the original Muslim in the Arab [[Hejaz]].

{{blockquote|Ummah was no longer a homogenous group but {{sic|comprised |hide=y|of}} various cultural communities with their own age-old customs and traditions. ... When Imam [[Al-Shafi'i]] moved from Hejaz to Egypt, which was a confluence of Arab and Coptic cultures, he realised this and changed his position on several issues.<ref name="ISI-1-2-13"/>}}

In Indonesia, following considerable debate among the [[ulema]], Indonesian ''adaat'' "become part of Sharia as applicable in that country".<ref name="ISI-1-2-13" /> This use of ijtihad of ''adaat'' applies to ''[[Muamalat|mu'amalat]]'' (socio-economic matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance), and not ''[[Ibadah]]'' fiqh (ritual [[salat]], [[sawm]], [[zakat]], etc.). Asghar Ali Engineer argues that while the Quran was revealed in a "highly patriarchal" Arab ''adaat'' that still informs what is understood as sharia, the Quran itself has a "transcendental" vision of justice that includes "absolutely equal rights" between genders and should guide ijtihad of sharia.<ref name="ISI-1-2-13" />

====Islamism and Salafism====

Contemporary [[Salafis]] are major proponents of ''ijtihad''. They criticize ''taqlid'' and believe ''ijtihad'' makes modern [[Islam]] more authentic and will guide Muslims back to the Golden Age of early Islam. [[Salafis]] assert that reliance on ''taqlid'' has led to [[Islam]]'s decline.<ref name=Wahabism>{{cite web|last=Ungureanu|first=Daniel|title=Wahabism, Salafism, and the Expansion of Islamic Fundamentalist Ideology|url=http://fssp.uaic.ro/argumentum/Numarul%2010/11_Ungureanu_tehno.pdf|publisher=Ai.I.Cuza University of Iasi|access-date=May 2, 2013}}</ref>

[[Ahl-i Hadith|Ahl-i-Hadith]] revivalist movement of [[Indian subcontinent]] highly influenced by the thoughts of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Shawkani and [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi|Syed Ahmed Barelvi]], fully condemn ''[[taqlid]] a''nd advocate for ''ijtihad'' based on scriptures.<ref name="ODI2">{{cite encyclopedia|year=2014|title=Ahl-i Hadith|encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00bada|editor=John L. Esposito|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001|isbn=9780195125580|url-access=registration}}</ref> Founded in mid-19th century in Bhopal, it places great emphasis on hadith studies and condemns imitation to the canonical law schools. They identify with the early school of [[Ahl al-Hadith]]. During the late 19th century, [[Najd]]i scholars would establish contacts with Ahl-i-Hadith and many Najdi students would study under the scholars of Ahl-i-Hadith, amongst them prominent scholars.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meijer|first=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-933343-1|location=New York|pages=61–63|chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Commins|first=David|title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia|publisher=I.B Tauris|year=2006|isbn=1-84511-080-3|location=London|pages=145}}</ref>

The [[Muslim Brotherhood]] traces its founding philosophies to al-Afghani's ''ijtihad''. The [[Muslim Brotherhood]] holds that the practice of ''ijtihad'' will strengthen the faith of believers by compelling them to better familiarize themselves with the [[Quran]] and come to their own conclusions about its teachings. But as a political group the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] faces a major paradox between ''ijtihad'' as a religious matter and as a political one. ''Ijtihad'' weakens political unity and promotes pluralism (which is also why many oppressive regimes reject ''ijtihad''{{'}}s legitimacy).<ref name="American Historical Review" />

The Iranian Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] envisioned a prominent role for ''ijtihad'' in his political theory of "[[Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist|guardianship of the jurist]]" (''vilāyat-e faqīh'').<ref name=OEIW/>

[[Osama bin Laden]] supported ''ijtihad''. He criticized the [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] regime for disallowing the "free believer"<ref name="American Historical Review" /> and imposing harsh restrictions on successful practice of [[Islam]]. Thus, Bin Laden believed his striving for the implementation of ''ijtihad'' was his "duty" (''[[takleef]]'').<ref name="American Historical Review" />

=={{Anchor|Qualifications of a mujtahid}}<!--Linked also from [[Mujtahid]]-->Qualifications of a mujtahid==
{{Redirect|Mujtahid|the Twitter activist|Mujtahidd (activist)}}
A '''''mujtahid''''' ({{langx|ar|مُجْتَهِد}}, "[[wikt:diligent|diligent]]") is an individual who is qualified to exercise ''ijtihad'' in the evaluation of Islamic law. The female equivalent is a ''mujtahida''. In general ''mujtahids'' must have an extensive knowledge of Arabic, the Qur'an, the [[Sunnah]], and legal theory ([[Usul al-fiqh]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Mujtahid|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e159|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808052727/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e159|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 8, 2014|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref> Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, due to their divergent beliefs regarding the persistence of divine authority, have different views on ''ijtihad'' and the qualifications required to achieve ''mujtahid''.

===Sunni===
In the years following the death of [[Muhammad]], Sunni Muslims practiced ''ijtihad'' and saw it as an acceptable form of the continuation of sacred instruction. Sunni Muslims justified practice of ''Ijtihad'' with a particular hadith, which cites Muhammad's approval of forming an individual sound legal opinion if the Qur'an and Sunnah contain no explicit text regarding that particular issue. As Muslims turned to the Quran and Sunnah to solve their legal issues, they began to recognize that these Divine proponents did not deal directly with certain topics of law. Therefore, Sunni jurists began to find other ways and sources for ''ijtihad'' which allowed for personal judgment of Islamic law.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=El Shamsy|first=Ahmed|title=Ijtihad bi al-Ray|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e1171|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204043359/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e1171|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 4, 2016|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies Online|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref> Thus, a legal theory (''[[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|usul al-Fiqh]]'') was developed during the classical period to facilitate ''Ijtihad''. It established a coherent system of principles through which a jurist could extract rulings on upcoming issues.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939%7Cjournal=International|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=4–10|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref> Only a competent Muslim of sound mind with intellectual qualifications was allowed to engage in ''Ijtihad''. [[Abu al-Husayn al-Basri|Abu'l-Husayn al-Basri]] (d. 436/1044) provides the earliest, complete account for the qualifications of a ''mujtahid'', in his book "''al-Mu'tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh''".
They include:
* Enough knowledge of Arabic so that the scholar can read and understand both the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
* Extensive comprehensive knowledge of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. More specifically, the scholar must have a full understanding of the Qur'an's legal contents. In regards to the Sunnah the scholar must understand the specific texts that refer to law and also the incidence of abrogation in the Sunnah.
* Must be able to confirm the consensus (''[[Ijma]]'') of the Companions, the Successors, and the leading Imams and mujtahideen of the past, in order to prevent making decisions that disregard these honored decisions made in the past.
* Should be able to fully understand the objectives of the sharia and be dedicated to the protection of the five necessities, which are life, religion, intellect, lineage, and property.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sharia |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/sharia_1.shtml |website=Religions |publisher=BBC |access-date=4 May 2022}}</ref>
* Be able to distinguish strength and weakness in reasoning, or in other words exercise logic.
* Must be sincere and a good person.<ref name="Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence">{{cite book|last=Kamali|first=Mohammad Hashim|title=Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence|year=1991|publisher=[[Islamic Texts Society]]|location=Cambridge|pages=374–377}}</ref>

After Basri, classical ''Mujtahids'' like Al-Shirazi (d. 467/1083), [[Al-Ghazali|Al-Ghazzali]] (d. 505/1111), [[Sayf al-Din al-Amidi|Al-Amidi]] (d. 632/1234) would also develop various criterion with minor changes. Amidi also allowed less qualified ''Mujtahids'' who didn't meet these requirements to solve issues provided he has the tools of solution.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=6–9|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hashim Kamali|first=Muhammad|title=Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence|publisher=International Islamic University, Malaysia|year=1991|pages=322–323|chapter=Chapter Nineteen: Ijtihad, or Personal Reasoning}}</ref> From the declaration of these requirements of ''mujtahid'' onwards, legal scholars adopted these characteristics as being standard for any claimant of ''ijtihad''. This allowed for ''mujtahids'' to openly discuss their particular views and reach a conclusion together. The interaction required by ''ijma'' allowed for ''mujtahids'' to circulate ideas and eventually merge to create particular Islamic schools of law (''[[madhhab]]s''). This consolidation of ''mujtahids'' into particular ''madhhabs'' prompted these groups to create their own distinct authoritative rules. These laws reduced issues of legal uncertainty that had been present when multiple ''mujtahids'' were working together with one another. Oftentimes, multiple rulings would be issued by jurists of the same legal school. Historical records show that throughout the tenth to nineteenth centuries, legal practitioners had consistently modified law using degrees of ''Ijtihad'', making it flexible and adaptable to change.<ref name="American Historical Review" /> Eventually, there developed a legal system of authoritative rulings on which influential jurists agreed. However, by the 14th century, while influential jurists held that knowledgeable legal scholars should be allowed to engage in ''Ijtihad ,'' some others began to argue that there were no longer any legal scholars capable of performing ''Ijtihad'' beyond a certain limit as the founders of the four ''[[Madhhab|mad'habs]]''. Despite this dispute, many high-ranking jurists upheld the practice of ''Ijtihad'' in legal rulings.<ref name="American Historical Review">{{cite journal|author=Indira Falk Gesnik|title="Chaos on the Earth": Subjective Truths versus Communal Unity in Islamic Law and the Rise of Militant Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|journal=The American Historical Review|date=June 2003|volume=108|issue=3|pages=710–733|jstor=10.1086/529594|doi=10.1086/529594}}</ref>

Recent scholarship has largely adopted this view, concluding that ''Ijtihad'' was indispensable in Islamic legal theory. Rather than obstructing ''Ijtihad'', the legal theory as well as its stipulated qualifications facilitated ''Ijtihad''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=B. Hallaq|first=Wael|date=March 1984|title=Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/162939|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=16|issue=1|pages=4–33|doi=10.1017/S0020743800027598|jstor=162939|s2cid=159897995 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hashim Kamali|first=Muhammad|title=Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence|publisher=International Islamic University, Malaysia.|year=1991|pages=323–325|chapter=Chapter Nineteen: Ijtihad, or Personal Reasoning}}</ref>

===Shia===
[[File:Grand Ayatollahs Qom فتوکلاژ، آیت الله های ایران-قم 02.jpg|thumb|220px|upright|[[Ayatollah|Grand Ayatollah]]s of [[Qom]], Iran; Religious leaders who have the authority to interpret sharia sources in [[Shiism|Shia Islam]]<ref>Sociology of religions: perspectives of Ali Shariati (2008) Mir Mohammed Ibrahim</ref> used assertive titles such as [[Ayatollah]], [[Hujjat al-Islam]], which directly connect their identities to Allah or Islam, and gained [[walayah|tutelage over people and the administration]]<ref name="Newman in Meri 2006 734">{{harvnb|Newman|2006|p=734}}</ref>]]
[[Shia]] Muslims understand the process of ''ijtihad'' as being the independent effort used to arrive at the rulings of sharia. Following the death of the Prophet and once they had determined the Imam as absent, ''ijtihad'' evolved into a practice of applying careful reason in order to uncover the knowledge of what ''Imams'' would have done in particular legal situations. The decisions the ''Imams'' would have made were explored through the application of the Qur'an, Sunnah, ''ijma'' and ''[['aql]]'' (reason). It was not until the end of the eighteenth century that the title of ''mujtahid'' became associated with the term ''faqih'' or one who is an expert in jurisprudence. From this point on religious courts began to increase in number and the ulama were transformed by Shia Islamic authorities into the new producer of ''ijtihad''.<ref name=Momen>{{cite book|last=Momen|first=Moojan|title=An Introduction to Shia Islam: The History and Doctrines of Twelver Shi'ism|year=1985|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|page=186}}</ref> Early Shiite theologians had denounced [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] interpretative tools like ''Ijtihad'' and ''[[Qiyas]]'' (analogical reasoning) citing reports from the [[Shi'a imams|Shi'i Imams]]. They held that ''Ijtihad'' was a deductive process based on personal conjecture to argue that it had no legal basis in the [[Sharia|shari'a]] (Islamic law). Therefore, until the 13th century, the concept of Ijtihad was denounced disparagingly by the Shi'i jurists, who wanted to construct a systematic and stable legal edifice that was devoid of any uncertainty. However, with the passage of time some Shia jurists sensed the need to respond to newer and novel circumstances.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Takim|first=Liyakat|title=Shi'ism Revisited: Ijtihad and Reformation in Contemporary Times|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2022|isbn=9780197606575|location=New York, United States of America|pages=66|chapter=2: Usul al-Fiqh and Ijtihad in Shi'ism|doi=10.1093/oso/9780197606575.001.0001|quote="To further vindicate their practice, the scholars cited traditions from the Imams that denounced Sunni interpretive tools like those of analogical deduction (qiyas) and independent reasoning (ijtihad). The negative stance toward Sunni legal practices was premised on the view that ijtihad was a deductive process based on personal conjecture and therefore had no legal basis in the shari'a. Due to this, the term ijtihad was used in a disparaging way by the Shi'is until the thirteenth century. The denunciation of ijtihad during this period also indicates that Shi'i jurists wanted to construct a legal edifice that was devoid of any doubt or uncertainty. With the passage of time, Shi‛i fuqaha' sensed the need to respond to newer issues and novel circumstances.."}}</ref>

According to ''Usuli'' scholars, ''Mujtahids'' existed continuously since the 16th century and employed ''Ijtihad'' to form new laws according to altering circumstances.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mohammad Farzaneh|first=Mateo|title=The Iranian Constitutional Revolution and the Clerical Leadership of Khurasani|publisher=Syracuse University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-8156-3388-4|location=Syracuse, New York |page=91}}</ref> From the late 18th century, ''Usuli'' jurists had advocated for appending ''[['Aql]]'' (intellect) as the fourth source of law. This enabled them to issue legal opinions based on societal needs. The ''[[Akhbari]]'' school rejected the idea of human intellect playing any role in legal reasoning.<ref name="Mohammad Farzaneh 2015 6" /> In order to produce perceptive ''mujtahids'' that could fulfill this important role, ''Usulis'' developed the [[Usul Fiqh in Ja'fari school|principles of Shia jurisprudence]] (''Usool'') to provide a foundation for scholarly deduction of Islamic law. [http://www.al-islam.org/short/ansari.htm Shaykh Murtada Ansari]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.al-islam.org/articles/life-and-times-shaykh-murtada-ansari-abbas-jaffer|title=The Life and Times of Shaykh Murtada Ansari|date=January 19, 2013|website=www.al-islam.org}}</ref> and his successors developed the school of Shia law, dividing the legal decisions into four levels of certainty (''qat''), valid conjecture (''zann''), doubt (''shakk''), and erroneous conjecture (''wahm''). These rules allowed ''mujtahids'' to issue adjudications on any subject, that could be derived through this process of ''ijtihad'', demonstrating responsibility to the Shia community.<ref name="Momen" /> Furthermore, according to Shia Islamic Jurisprudence a believer of Islam is either a ''Mujtahid'' (one that expresses their own legal reasoning), or a ''Muqallid'' (one performing taqlid—following or imitating a Mujtahid) and a ''Muhtat'' ("a lay Shiite who does not follow anyone, yet acts on such precaution that assures him the fulfilment of his religious obligations").<ref name="Lost-2017">{{cite web |title=Research Seminar: "Lost in Translation: Taqlid and Marja'iyya in Shiite Islam" |url=https://www.almahdi.edu/research-seminar-lost-in-translation-taqlid-and-marjaiyya-in-shiite-islam/ |website=AlMahdi Institute |access-date=2 September 2022 |date=19 January 2017 |editor= Mohammadreza Kalantari }}</ref><ref name="Jannati-Ijtiahad">{{cite book |last1=Jannati |first1=Muhammad Ibrahim |title=Ijtihad: Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ray |publisher=Al-Islam.org |url=https://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/general-al-tawhid/ijtihad-its-meaning-sources-beginnings-practice-ray-jannati/term-ijtihad |access-date=2 September 2022 |chapter=The Term Ijtihad. The Forth Definition of Ijtihad|date=17 March 2013 }}</ref> Most Shia Muslims qualify as ''Muqallid'', and therefore are very dependent on the rulings of the ''Mujtahids''. Therefore, the ''Mujtahids'' must be well prepared to perform ''ijtihad'', as the community of ''Muqallid'' are dependent on their rulings. Not only did Shia Muslims require:
* Knowledge of the texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah
* Justice in matters of public and personal life
* Utmost piety
* Understanding of the cases where Shia ''mujtahids'' reached consensus
* Ability to exercise competence and authority<ref>{{cite web|last=Mutahhari|first=Murtada|title=The Principle of Ijtihad in Islam|date=2 March 2013|url=http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/ijtihad.htm|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>

However, these scholars also depended on further training that could be received in religious centers called Hawza. At these centers they are taught the important subjects and technical knowledge a ''mujtahid'' need be proficient in such as:
* Arabic grammar and literature
* Logic
* Extensive knowledge of the Qur'anic sciences and Hadith
* Science of narrators
* Principle of Jurisprudence
* Comparative Jurisprudence<ref name="Principles of Ijtihad in Islam">{{cite web|last=Mutahhari|first=Murtada|title=The Principles of Ijtihad in Islam|date=2 March 2013|url=http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/ijtihad.htm|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>

Therefore, Shia ''mujtahids'' remain revered throughout the Shia Islamic world. The relationship between the ''mujtahids'' and ''muqallids'' continues to address and solve the contemporary legal issues. Participating in ijtihad, however, has been cautioned by scholars for those not properly educated in interpretation of the Qu'ran. This is narrated by [[Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin]], the great-grandson of Muhammad, when he cautioned [[Aban ibn abi-Ayyash]], a fellow companion, saying, "Oh brother from 'Abd Qays, if the issue becomes clear to you, then accept it. Otherwise remain silent and defer to Allah because your interpretation from the truth will be as far from the Earth as the sky."<ref>{{cite book |last1=al-Kulayni |first1=Muhammad ibn Ya'qub |title=Al-Kafi |date=2015 |publisher=Islamic Seminary Incorporated |location=NY |isbn=978-0-9914308-6-4 |volume= 6 }}</ref>

===Female ''mujtahids''===
{{See also|Women as imams}}
Women can be ''Mujtahid'' and throughout Islamic history there were well known female Islamic scholars and ''Mujtahids'' who played an important role in traditional Islamic discourse. [[Aisha]] the wife of Muhammad was a well-known hadith scholar and a ''Mujtahid''. She was an assertive, intelligent woman as well as an eloquent speaker. According to [[Urwah ibn Zubayr|Urwah Ibn Zubair]], Aisha was the most knowledgeable in ''hadith'' and ''fiqh'' and surpassed everyone in knowledge of poetry and medicine. [[Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri|Al-Zuhri]] studied under the well-known woman jurist of the day, Amrah bint Abdul Rahman. She was one of the most knowledgeable people of hadith and was described as an "ocean of knowledge". When the judge of Madinah heard Amrah's message, he did not feel the need to get a male opinion, although Madinah was then housing the famous Seven Jurists. Islamic scholar [[Mohammad Akram Nadwi|Akram Nadwi]] published a 40-volume biographical collection of female Muslim scholars wherein more than 8,000 female scholars were detailed. Other famous female ''Muhadditha'' and jurists include Zainab bint Kamal, Fatima Al Batayahiyyah, Fatimah bint Muhammad al Samarqandi, etc. [[Fatima al-Fihri|Fatima Al Fihiriyya]] founded the [[University of al-Qarawiyyin|University of Qarawiyyin]] in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] in 859, world's first academic university that offered a degree. Scholars such as [[Umm al-Darda as-Sughra|Umm al-Darda]] used to sit and debate with male scholars in the mosque. She was a teacher of hadith and Fiqh and also lectured in the men's section. One of her students was a [[Caliphate|Caliph]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Lost Female Scholars of Islam|url=https://www.emel.com/article?a_id=828&id|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113170132/https://www.emel.com/article?a_id=828&id|archive-date=13 January 2021|website=Emel}}</ref>

In [[Shia Islam|Shiism]], there have been dozens of women who have attained the rank in the modern history of Iran (for instance, [[Amina Bint al-Majlisi]] in the Safavid era, Bibi Khanum in the Qajar era, [[Nosrat Amin|Lady Amin]] in the Pahlavi era, and [[Zohreh Sefati]] during the time of the Islamic Republic).<ref>See: Mirjam Künkler and Roja Fazaeli, "The Life of Two Mujtahidas: Female Religious Authority in 20th Century Iran", in ''Women, Leadership and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority'', ed. Masooda Bano and Hilary Kalmbach ([[Brill Publishers]], 2012), 127-160. {{SSRN|1884209}}</ref> There are diverging opinions as to whether a female ''mujtahid'' can be a [[Marja'|marjaʻ]] or not. [[Zohreh Sefati]] and some male jurists believe a female ''mujtahida'' can become a ''marja''' — in other words, they believe that believers perform ''taqlid'' (emulation) of a female mujtahid— but most male jurists believe a ''marjaʻ'' must be male.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

==See also==
{{Portalbar|Islam}}

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book|editor-last=Meri|editor-first=Josef W.|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC|volume=2 L-Z, index|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-96692-4}}
** {{harvc |last=Newman |first=Andrew J. |c=Shi'i Thought |in=Meri |year=2006}}

==Further reading==
* [[Wael Hallaq]]: "Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?", ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', 16, 1 (1984), 3–41.
* Glassé, Cyril, ''The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam'', 2nd Edition, Stacey International, London (1991) {{ISBN|0-905743-65-2}}
* [[Ignaz Goldziher|Goldziher, Ignaz]] (translated by A And R Hamori), ''Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law'', Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey (1981) {{ISBN|0-691-10099-3}}
* [[Mohammad Hashim Kamali|Kamali, Mohammad Hashim]] ''Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence'', [[Islamic Texts Society]], Cambridge (1991) {{ISBN|0-946621-24-1}}.
* Carlos Martínez, "Limiting the Power of Religion from Within: Probabilism and Ishtihad," in ''Religion and Its Other: Secular and Sacral Concepts and Practices in Interaction''. Edited by Heike Bock, Jörg Feuchter, and Michi Knecht (Frankfurt/M., Campus Verlag, 2008).

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100306143642/http://www.maaref-foundation.com/english/library/beliefs/al_nas_walijtihad/index.htm Ijtihad against the Text]
* [http://www.ijtihad.org/ijtihad.htm Two Theories of Ijtihad]
* [http://www.youquran.com/INTRODUCTION-ISLAMIC-LAW-Schacht.PDF An Introduction to Islamic Law by Joseph Schacht]
* [http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/ijtihad.htm A Detailed Q & A on Ijtihad]
* [http://www.resetdoc.org/story/00000021629 Opening the doors of Ijtihad, essay by Fred Dallmayr on www.resetdoc.org]

{{Islamic philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sharia legal terminology]]
[[Category:Hawza]]
[[Category:Islamic philosophy]]
[[Category:Legal interpretation]]
[[Category:Islamic courts and tribunals]]
[[Category:Islamic jurisprudence]]