CAN GATES OF IJTIHAD BE CLOSED?

Abstract

"First of all we would like to point out that there is no church in Islam and no single authority and hence no one can issue a dictat to close the gates of ijtihad. Or re-open it. When Ibn Taymiyyah issued the fatwa on jihad after sack of Baghdad he went against the authority of his own Hanbali School and gave fatwa on his own authority. Hanbali school requires submission to the ruling authority. Before we proceed further we would like to point out that ijtihad has been the very part of process of law making in Islam. The root meaning of ijtihad (derived from jahada) is to strive, to make efforts and it is called ijtihad when one makes utmost intellectual assertion to understand a phenomenon and find a solution to it. Technically it was used by Ma’adh bin Jabal who was appointed ‘Amil (Governor) of Yemen and when the Prophet (PBUH) asked him how will you govern if you do not find any ruling in the Qur’an and my sunnah, he said ana ajtahidu i.e. I will strive to understand the problem myself and find the way out. The Holy Prophet approved of it."(PG 1)