Daily Times

Regrettably, Islam and Muslims are in great pandemonium and chaos as islamophobia is on roller coaster ride around the globe and relentlessly up-ticking. Contempt and acrimony against our religion are being waged partly because of our rigid and immovable dogmas that we owe and partly because of outfits that operate under the disguise of Islam.

Islam being a universal religion and its validity until doom’s day is irrefutable and beyond doubt. It is a complete code of life and has divine injunctions, decrees, and commandments for all ambits of life including social, economic, judicial and political matters. As a universal religion, it has to mold itself according to the incumbent era addressing contemporary problems and possible solutions, remedies to uphold its relevance in every age.

The modern age of science and technology has staged innumerable challenges where the Muslim community needs to revisit its opinionated approach to make Islam more flexible and inclusive towards ever-changing paradigms either by Ijtihad or Ijma, but unfortunately, we have slammed the doors for both of them inasmuch as 12^th century.

Extensive work regarding Ijtihad had been done in the medieval era circa the ninth century to the twelfth century. The doctrine of “Taqleed” thus came into being which begot the fear that descendants may ensue it unarguably thus served as a stumbling block for further elucidation of Quran and Hadith.

Having said that, Ijtihad is of two types Ijtihad Mutlaq in which interpretation is made independently using one’s cognizance and intuition under Islamic jurisprudence while overlooking former quintessences and epitomes set by Islamic jurists and Ijtihad Muquiyyad which is limited and ensues doctrine of “Taqleed”.

Literally, Ijtihad means striving or searching. Technically it means endeavor to interpret Quran and Sunah to acclimatize Islamic teachings according to the novel condition in lieu of Islamic jurisprudence and precedents laid down by earlier Mujtahids and Fuqaha (Islamic jurists) especially of four schools of thought. While Ijma means consensus. It could be either general one or springs from lawmakers by the legislative assembly. Prophet (PBUH) said, “My ummah will never be united on an error.”

Notwithstanding, an only studious and erudite scholar who has an outright knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence and complete apprehension of mundane problems can carry out this procedure. While Islamic dogmas circumscribe around immutable and mutable ones. Immutable tenets emanate from Quran and Hadith can never be moulded, stay rigid henceforth and applicable for the rest of the mortal world. Contrarily, mutable tenets are traditional ones handed-down from our forebears thus can be cobbled from time to time.

In the eighteenth century, renowned religious scholar Shah Wali Allah instigated and impelled for the dire need of Ijtihad as he stirred up with Muslim slump and miserable Muslim infirmity who were constantly negating acceptance of modern crafts thus such recalcitrant demeanour rendered them stagnant and static in an era of science and technology. Shah Wali  Allah contended for public good “Maslehat” and opted independent approach. At the same time need for Ijtihad had been felt in Egypt, ottoman turkey and some Arab constituencies. Albeit, the scope stayed limited.

Allama Iqbal advocated for the groundwork of modern turkey when she did away with Caliphate as he purported grand assembly as legislative assembly could substitute Caliphate which was indispensable regarding the modern world’s changing landscapes.

In 1988, the Shariah ordinance was promulgated while keeping the significance of Ijtihad in view to conform the existing rules according to Quran and Hadith and to address the modern challenges but it hardly served any purpose and only rendered it window dresser. While our clerics are just kicking the can down the road and often stay indulged in sectarian bickers and wrangles making our entire fabric polarized and impatient.

We frequently rivet the concept of Ijtihad with Bid’ah, which means innovation. But there is a stark contrast. Thumb rule is rational and the sane approach can be illustrated as Ijtihad while grotesque and distorted opinion is regarded as an innovation that is always ill-conceived by quacks.

Unequivocally, the Muslim community direly needs to transmogrify itself and come out with a pragmatic approach to address the dissents across-the-board where bastion of peace “Islam” can serve the world as lodestar towards better future far from anarchy and chaos.

Amidst all this, we have to reopen the door for Ijtihad. But the question is, How?

The writer can be reached at beinghasnainali@gmail.com