Contemporary Ijtihad

The book examines the challenges and limits of contemporary ijtihad in the context of diverse needs of Muslim cultures and communities living in Muslim and non-Muslim nations and continents, including Europe and North America.

"Contemporary Muslims face the challenge of how can a legal system that was formulated in the classical period of Islam respond to the multitudinous challenges that present-day Muslims encounter? Is there a need for reformation in Islam? If so, where should it begin and in which direction should it proceed? Addressing this gap in Western scholarship, and contributing to the ongoing debate in Islamic scholarship, Shi'ism Revisited: Ijtihad and Reformation in Contemporary Times will: (i) explore how modernity has impinged on the classical formulation of Islamic law, and (ii) analyse how Shi'i jurists have responded to the intersection of shari'a (Islamic law) and modernity. The study is original and ground-breaking in that it seeks to tackle issues such as how Islamic law is being revised by Shi'i scholars on cases such as human rights, gender equality, the rights of non-Muslim minorities, and reconfiguring the rational and moral basis of Islamic law. Such questions have required scholars to apply ijtihad (independent reasoning) in providing solutions to the pressing questions in the religious and social fields. By examining the principles and application of Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh) and reformation in Shi'ism, as well as the current discourse on juristic hermeneutics and the basis of a new ijtihad, this research will address topics that have attracted much public attention. Since such issues have been largely neglected by Western scholarship, this book will provide a unique analysis of ijtihad and reformation in the Shi'i world"--

Contemporary Muslims face a challenge: how should they define the relationship between normative Islamic jurisprudence--worked out by classical jurists over the course of centuries-and the reality that confronts them in their everyday lives. They have to reckon with how religion can regulate and serve the needs of a changing community. Is there a need for reformation in Islam? If so, where should it begin and how should it proceed? So far, these challenging questions have received little attention from Western scholars. Shi'ism Revisited will address this gap. In order to address pressing religious and social questions--on topics ranging from women's rights to bioethics and the challenges facing diasporic Muslims--legal scholars have sought to apply ijtihad, or independent reasoning. The lack of a central authority in Islam means the interpretations and edicts of scholars are frequently challenged, resulting in diversity and plurality in Islamic law. This makes Islamic law capacious, but also suggests the critical importance of examining not just the theory of law, but its application. Shi'ism Revisited moves beyond theoretical questions of reformation to address specific ways that Islamic law is being revisited by jurists. Tracing the origins and development of Shi'i jurisprudence and legal theory, Liyakat Takim analyzes how underlying epistemologies can be revised in order to create a moral and coherent legal system.

In the early centuries of Islam the response of Muslims to problem-solving the various issues and challenges that faced their rapidly expanding community was to use intelligence and independent reasoning based on the Qur’an and Sunnah to address them. This practice is known as ijtihad. As the centuries wore on however the gates of ijtihad were generally closed in favor of following existing rulings developed by scholars by way of analogy. And as reason and intellect, now held captive to madhhabs (schools of thought) and earlier scholarly opinion stagnated, so did the Muslim world. Ijtihad and Renewal is an analysis of ijtihad and the role it can play for a positive Muslim revival in the modern world, a revival based on society-wide economic and educational reform and development. It makes the case that the grafting of solutions rooted in the past onto the complex and unique realities of our own age, in a one-size-fits-all perspective, has paralysed the vitality of Muslim thought, and confused its sense of direction, and that to revive the Muslim world from its centuries of decline and slumber we need to revive the practice of ijtihad. Focusing attention on thinking through solutions for ourselves based on our own times and context, using the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as the wisdom and experience of the past distilled from these, as tools in this endeavor whilst not the only solution, is certainly a viable and powerful one.

In the early centuries of Islam the response of Muslims to problem-solving the various issues and challenges that faced their rapidly expanding community was to use intelligence and independent reasoning based on the Qur’an and Sunnah to address them. This practice is known as ijtihad. As the centuries wore on however the gates of ijtihad were generally closed in favor of following existing rulings developed by scholars by way of analogy. And as reason and intellect, now held captive to madhhabs (schools of thought) and earlier scholarly opinion stagnated, so did the Muslim world. Ijtihad and Renewal is an analysis of ijtihad and the role it can play for a positive Muslim revival in the modern world, a revival based on society-wide economic and educational reform and development. It makes the case that the grafting of solutions rooted in the past onto the complex and unique realities of our own age, in a one-size-fits-all perspective, has paralysed the vitality of Muslim thought, and confused its sense of direction, and that to revive the Muslim world from its centuries of decline and slumber we need to revive the practice of ijtihad. Focusing attention on thinking through solutions for ourselves based on our own times and context, using the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as the wisdom and experience of the past distilled from these, as tools in this endeavor whilst not the only solution, is certainly a viable and powerful one.

Considering that the accepted juridical sources of Islam are valid for all times and places, ijtiahd may be described as a creative but disciplined intellectual effort to derive legal rulings from those sources while taking into consideration the variables imposed by the fluctuating circumstances of Muslim society. Consigning ijtihad to be annals of history is a denial of the rationalistic, egalitarian, and humane aspects of a realistic and durable Faith. The act would be a repudiation of the requisites of changing times and of the clamoring need to rid the Ummah of its present baggage of malaise and enable it to forge ahead, inspiring other nations and communities. It can be proved historically that the Ummah only entered its current crisis after ijtihad fell into disuse and was gradually replaced by taqlid. It is only through ijtihad that Muslims will be able to construct a new specific methodological infrastructure capable of addressing the crisis of Islamic thought and so, propose alternatives for the many problems of the contemporary world. The courage that needs to accompany such a mission is tremendous, the methodology massive an meticulous. With this work, Dr Al-Alwani has contributed to the debate on this vital issue. The very way he tackled it-sometimes with boldness, sometimes with caution-shows that the debate is not an open-and shut issue, and that it needs to be widen quickly in view of the urgency of the situation.

This paper develops the idea of a maqasid-based framework for ijtihad and civilizational renewal (tajdid hadari), a broad and engaging prospect that also involves a review and reappraisal of the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence relating to both the maqasid and ijtihad. The author argues that this would enable Muslims to widen the scope and horizon of the maqasid or objectives of Islamic law from their currently legalistic leanings towards the wider perspective of civilisational renaissance. The nexus that needs to be developed between the maqasid and ijtihad also needs to be supported by a credible methodology, which is what the author has attempted in this paper.

Despite the distinct buzz of activity in the area of Islamic action and theory within the Muslim world and elsewhere, many "Islamic" movements and pronouncements fall short of the Islamic ideal. Many of them indeed go against the very spirit of Islam, and do the faith a considerable damage in the sight of Allah and man. This is due to a gross misunderstanding acquired over centuries of Muslim intellectual lethargy and indifference to changing realities. The present paper traces the unfortunate growth of such tendencies in the distant and near past, but emphasizes the contemporary scene, which it examines (and tries to put right) with incisive clarity and candor, along with an unerring commitment to the vibrancy and universality of Islam.