Two Theories
of Ijtihad
By M. A. Muqtedar Khan
Department of Political Science & International
Relations
University of Delaware
& Non-Resident Fellow
Brookings Institution
As tensions between the Muslim
and Western worlds continue to grow, there is
one largely overlooked area of activity that may
play a role in building bridges: ijtihad. While
ijtihad can be a tool for understanding Islamic
principles in a way that fits the needs and challenges
of individuals and societies, there is no universal
agreement on its proper role.
The Islamic tradition has two conceptions of ijtihad.
One is a very narrow, legalistic notion of it
as a process of juristic reasoning employed to
determine the permissibility of an action when
primary sources, namely the Qur’an and Sunnah
(tradition of the Prophet), are silent and earlier
scholars of shari'a (Islamic law) had not ruled
on the matter. For those who hold this view of
ijtihad, who can perform ijtihad is often more
important than the need for ijtihad.
In reality, this view is designed to stifle independent
thought among Muslims and to confine the right
to understand and explain Islam to Muslim jurists.
It is also opposed to reasoning, because it essentially
says that reason shall be employed only when the
texts are silent and no medieval scholar has addressed
the issue under scrutiny. Reason, according to
this viewpoint, is the last resort for understanding
the will of God. For those who hold this view,
opening the doors of ijtihad would make no difference,
since their very conception of it is impoverished
and limited.
The second view, often espoused by non-jurists
and particularly by those who advocate some form
of Islamic modernism and liberalism, envisions
ijtihad more broadly. For modernist Muslims --
and I believe that Islamic modernism deeply influences
all "moderate" Muslim thinking -- ijtihad
is about freedom of thought, rational thinking
and the quest for truth through an epistemology
covering science, rationalism, human experience,
critical thinking and so on.
When modernist Muslims claim that the door of
ijtihad has been closed, they are lamenting the
loss of the spirit of inquiry that was so spectacularly
demonstrated by classical Islamic civilization
at its peak. They are, in a sense, nostalgic for
Ibn Sina' (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes),
for al-Farabi, al-Biruni and al-Haytham -- scientists,
philosophers and jurists of Islam's "Golden
Age". Thus, modernist Muslims see ijtihad
as the spirit of inquiry and desire for all forms
of knowledge, not just religious and juristic,
that needs to be revived to revitalize and restore
Islamic civilization.
As long as a majority of Muslims equates Islam
with shari'a, Islamic scholarship with fiqh (jurisprudence)
and real knowledge with juristic knowledge, ijtihad
will remain a limited jurisprudential tool and
closed minds will never open. Islamic modernists
have been trying, since the time of Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan, the great Muslim reformer of the 19th century,
to re-instill a sense of the value of knowledge
and an appreciation for science and philosophical
inquiry. Yet, as a Muslim, I acknowledge that
there is no research institution worthy of recognition
in this way in the entire Muslim world.
Muslims must go back and read Ibn Rushd (Fasl
al-Maqaal, The Decisive Treatise), and learn how
he bridged science and religion, in order to understand
that Islam has nothing to fear from reason and
so to open their hearts and minds to rational
thought. This is the goal that Ibn Khaldun, the
great 14th century Arab historian and philosopher,
would have called the "engine of civilization."
Modernist Muslims subscribe to and advocate this
spirit of Islam.
Islamic reformation can be understood in two different
ways. It can mean the reform of society to bring
it back to what have been considered Islamic norms
and values: most Islamic and Islamist reformers
are pursuing this type of reform. The other reform
strategy is to question the existing understanding
of Islam and seek to articulate a reformed understanding
of Islam: this is where Islamic modernists and
rationalists have always plied their trade.
Here, ijtihad is employed as an instrument to
critique prevalent understanding and articulate
a more compassionate, more modern and, perhaps,
even a more liberal understanding (which some
would call the truly-traditional understanding).
The rethinking of Islam vis-à-vis democracy
is an area in which Islamic reformist thinking
is taking place.
In my opinion, Muslims can modernize without de-Islamising
or de-traditionalissing. India and Japan have
shown that societies can modernize without losing
their traditional cultures. Muslim societies today
have to distinguish between Islam and culture,
retain their Islamic essence and reform dysfunctional
cultural habits that hinder development, progress,
equality and prosperity.
Without holding fast to revelation, Muslims will
lose their connection with the divine, which would
cause life to lose meaning and purpose for many.
The challenge for Muslims today is to latch on
to the currents of democracy, modernity and globalization
without cutting the umbilical cord to the heavens.
I believe that we can do it. American Muslims
are demonstrating this in their lives.
When it comes to the modern practice of ijtihad,
American Muslims are miles ahead of other Muslim
communities. Not only are there a large number
of scholars pushing for ijtihad in the US, but
there are also national organizations and prominent
Islamic centers that are, in principle, willing
to put initiatives advanced by ijtihad into practice.
An excellent practical example of this is the
adoption of guidelines for women-friendly mosques
by many Islamic centers. An outstanding theoretical
example is the now widespread acceptance in the
US, and to some extent in Europe, of the idea
of Fiqh al Aqliyaat (minority jurisprudence),
which is the idea that Muslims who live as minorities
need to revisit and rearticulate Islamic legal
positions, keeping in mind their minority status.
We can see the product of American ijtihad in
the progressive role that women play in the American-Muslim
community and in Islamic scholarship. Another
important indicator is the absence of embedded
radicalism in American Islam and the enormous
appetite that American Muslims and their organizations
express for democracy, civil rights, pluralism
and civic engagement.
Thus, a broad vision of ijtihad ensures that Islam
and Muslim communities continue to reform in positive
ways without losing the connection to Divine revelation
and traditional culture. Muslims must continue
to embrace this spirit of inquiry and desire for
all forms of knowledge in order to revitalize
and restore Islamic civilization.
(Dr. M. A. Muqtedar Khan is Assistant Professor
in the Department of Political Science and International
Relations at the University of Delaware. He is
also a non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution
and the editor of the forthcoming volume, Islamic
Democratic Theory.)
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