- English
- Français
Article contents
Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
- Wael B. Hallaq
- Affiliation:Department of Near Eastern StudiesUniversity of Washington
Extract
As conceived by classical Muslim jurists,ijtihād is the exertion of mental energy in the search for a legal opinion to the extent that the faculties of the jurist become incapable of further effort. In other words, ijtihad is the maximum effort expended by the jurist to master and apply the principles and rules ofuṣūl alfiqh (legal theory) for the purpose of discovering God's law.1 The activity of ijtihad is assumed by many a modern scholar to have ceased about the end of the third/ninth century, with the consent of the Muslim jurists themselves. This process, known as ‘closing the gate of ijtihad’ (in Arabic: ‘insidād bāb al-ijtihād’), was described by Joseph Schacht as follows:
Information
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984
Access options
Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)Article purchase
Temporarily unavailable
References
NOTES
Author's note: I wish to thank Professors Farhat Ziadeh and Nicholas Heer for their valuable comments on the manuscript.
1⊂Alīb.,Abi⊂Alī al-āmidī,al-Iḥkam fī Uṣūl al-Aḥkām, 3 vols. (Cairo,1968),III,204;Google ScholarTāj,al-Dīn al-Subkī,Jam⊂ al-Jawāmic⊂, with the commentary of Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī, 2 vols. (Bombay,1970), II,379–381;Google ScholarMuḥammad,b. ⊂Alī al-Shawkānī,Irshād al-Fuḥūl ilā Taḥqīq al-Haqq min ⊂Ilm al-Uṣūl (Cairo,1909), pp.232–233.Google Scholar On the meaning of ‘ijtihad’, seeBravman,M. M.,The Spiritual Background of Early Islam (Leiden.1972), p.189.Google Scholar
2Schacht,J.,An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford,1964), pp.70–71.Google Scholar
3Anderson,J. N. D.,Law Reform in the Muslim World (London,1976), p.7.Google Scholar Such statements on the closure of the gate can be easily multiplied. See, e.g.,Khadduri,M., “From Religious to National Law,” inThompson,J. H. andReischauer,R. D., eds.,Modernization of the Arab World (Toronto,1966), p.41;Google ScholarRahman,F.,Islam (Chicago,1966), pp.77–78;Google ScholarGibb,H. A. R.,Mohammedanism (New York,1962), p.104;Google ScholarTritton,A. S.,Materials on Muslim Education in the Middle Ages (London,1957), p.163;Google ScholarCoulson,N. J.,A History of Islamic Law (Edinburgh,1964), p.81.Google Scholar See also the introduction ofLewis,G. L. to Katib Chelebi'sThe Balance of Truth (London,1957), pp.18–19. For additional citations on this, see notes 6 and 7 below.Google Scholar
4Gibb,H. A. R.,Modern Trends in Islam (Chicago,1947), p.13;CrossRefGoogle Scholar idem.,Mohammedanism, p.98.Google Scholar
5 SeeWatt,W. M., “The Closing of the Door of lgtihad,”Orientalia Hispanica, I (Leiden,1974),675–678.Google Scholar
6Watt,W. M.,Islam and the Integration of Society (Evanston,1961), pp.206–207,242–243;CrossRefGoogle ScholarLiebesny,H., “Stability and Change in Islamic Law,”Middle East Journal,21 (1967), 19;Google ScholarCoulson,,History, pp.80–81;Google ScholarSchacht,,Introduction, p.75;Google ScholarRahman,,Islam, pp.77–78.Google Scholar
7 Cf.Ostrorog,C. L.,The Angora Reform (London,1927), p.31;Google ScholarAnderson,,Law Reform, p.7;Google ScholarPellat,C., “Les Etapes de la decadence culturelle dans les pays Arabes d'Orient,” inBrunschvig,R. andvon Grunebaum,G., eds.,Classicisme et declin culturel dans l'histoire de l'lslam (Paris,1957), p.85.Google Scholar
8 On the procedure of ijtihad, seeAbu,lshaq al-Shirazi,al-Luma⊂ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh (Cairo,1908), pp.83–84;Google ScholarShawkani,,Irshād, p.420;Google ScholarIbn,Habib al-Mawardi,Adab al-Qāḍī, ed.Sarhan,M., 2 vols. (Baghdad,1971), I,535–555;Google ScholarWeis,B., “Interpretation in Islamic Law: The Theory of ljtihad,”The American Journal of Comparative Law,26,2 (Spring,1978),209–210.Google Scholar
9 See, e.g.,Shirazi,,Luma⊂, p.4;Google ScholarAmidi,,Iḥkām,1,6;Google ScholarAbu,Hamid al-Ghazali,al-Mustasfā min ⊂Ilm al-Uṣūsl, 2 vols. (Cairo,1907),1,5;Google ScholarShawkani,,Irshād, p.3.Google Scholar
10Amidi,,Iḥkām,111,222;Google ScholarSa⊂d,al-Din al-Taftazani,H⊂shiya ⊂al⊂ Mukhtaṣar al-Muntahā, 2 vols. (Cairo,1974), II,308;Google ScholarIbn,al-Humam,al-Taḥrīr fī ⊂Ilm al-Uṣūl, with the commentaryal-Taqrīr wal Taḥbīr byIbn,Amir al-Hajj, 3 vols. (Cairo,1898–1899), III,292.Google Scholar
11Rahman,,Islam, p.78.Google Scholar
12Unfortunately, Volume 17 of ⊂Abd al-Jabbar'sal-Mughnīfī Abwāb al-Tawḥīd wal-⊂Adl, 20 vols. (Cairo,1962–), which deals with usul al-fiqh has many lacunae, especially in the chapter on ijtihad.Google Scholar
13 SeeMuhammad,b. ⊂Ali al-Basri,al-Mu⊂tamad fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh, ed.Hamidullah,M. et al. , 2 vols. (Damascus,1964), II,929–931.Google Scholar
14ibid., II, 930, line 2 and 931, lines 9–10.
15ibid., II, 932.
16Shirazi,,Luma⊂, pp.85–86.Google Scholar
17Ghazali,,Mustasfā,11,350–354;Google ScholarLaoust,H.,Lapolitique de Gazali (Paris,1970), pp.179–180.Google Scholar
18Ghazali,,Mustasfā,11,353–354.Google Scholar
19Amidi,,Iḥkām,111,204–205.Google Scholar
20ibid., III, 205–206.
21 For the requirements of Baydawi and Isnawi, seeNihāyat al-Sūl fī Sharḥ Minhāj al-Wuṣūl, 3 vols. (Cairo,1899),111,307–313.Google Scholar OnSubki, seeJam⊂,II,382–386, especially p.383.Google Scholar For the requirements ofIbn,al-Humam andIbn,al-Amir, seeTaqrīr,III,292–294.Google Scholar For those of Ansari andIbn,⊂Abd al-Shakur, seeSharḥ Musallam al-Thubūt fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh, 2 vols. (Cairo,1907),1,363–364.Google Scholar
22lsnawi,,Nihāyat al-Sūl,III,308;Google ScholarIbn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,111,292.Google Scholar
23 The divisibility of ijtihad was recognized by the great majority of jurists. SeeShawkani,,Irshād, p.237.Google Scholar
24Mawardi,,Adab,1,533 f.;Google ScholarAmidi,,lhkām,111,218.Google Scholar
25 Sha⊂rani defined ‘ahl al-hadith’ as follows: “Byahl al-hadīth is meant that which comprises the traditionalist (ahl al-Sunna) among the juristconsults, even though they may not be tradition experts.” Cited inMakdisi,G., “The Significance of the Schools of Law in Islamic Religious History,”The International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies,10 (1979),4.Google Scholar
26Goldziher,I.,The Zahiris: Their Doctrine and their History, trans.Behn,W. (Leiden,1971), pp.34–36. On the Hashwiyya seeShorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Hashwiya.”Google Scholar
27Ibn,al-Nadim,al-Fihrist, ed.Fiügel,G. (Beirut,1964), pp.213,236;Google ScholarGoldziher,,Zahiris, p.35.Google Scholar
28 Quoted inGoldziher,,Zahiris, p.35.Google Scholar
29Abd,al-Rahman Ibn al-Salah,Fatāwā (Beirut,1970), pp.32–33. Relating from Abu lshaq allsfara⊂ini, Ibn al-Salah remarked that “the great majority of scholars believe that the adversaries of qiyas are not qualified to perform ijtihad and may not be entrusted with judgeship; thus, Dawud cannot take part in any ijma⊂.” See also other similar opinions on the Zahiris recorded in thisFatāwā.Google Scholar
30Goldziher,,Zahiris, p.30.Google Scholar
31ibid., pp. 156–157.
32Abu,Hamid al-Ghazali,Iḥyā⊃ ⊂Ulām al-Dīn, 5 vols. (Cairo,1967),1,38.Google Scholar
33Goldziher,,Zahiris, p.36.Google Scholar
34Ibn,Khatdun,al-Muqaddima (Beirut, n.d.), pp.446–447Google Scholar (Rosenthal's,F. trans. III,5–6).Google Scholar
35Yusuf,Ibn ⊂Abd al-Barr,Jāmi⊂ Bayān al-⊂Ilm (Cairo,1975), p.323.Google Scholar
36 On the fact that they rejected ijtihad, seeGhazali,,Mustasfa,II,387.Google Scholar
37Laoust,,La politique de Gazali, p.180.Google Scholar
38Al-Khatib,al-Baghdadi,al-Faqīh wal-Mutafaqqih, 2 vols. (Beirut,1975),II,72,76–77.Google Scholar
39 SeeMaturidi,,Kitāb al-Tawḥīd, ed.Fathallah,K. (Beirut,1970), pp.10–11,12,14,318,331,378, passim.Google Scholar
40 Cited inHalkin,A. S., “The Hashwiyya,”Journal of the American Oriental Society,54,1(1934),12.Google Scholar
41Ghazali,,Iḥyā⊃,1,133;Google ScholarTaj,al-Din al-Subki,Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfi⊂yya al-Kubrā, 6 vols. (Cairo,1906),II,287.Google Scholar
42Ibn,⊂Ali Ibn al-Jawzi,al-Muntaẓam fī Tārīkh al-Mulūk wal-Umam, 9 vols. (?) (Haidarabad,1940),VIII,268.Google Scholar
43Abu,al-Wafa⊃ Ibn ⊂Aqil,Kitāb al-Funūn, ed.Makdisi,G., 2 vols. (Beirut,1970–1971),II,510.Google Scholar See also a similar opinion expressed byMuhammad,b. Ahmad Ibn Rushd,Faṣl al-Maqāl, ed.Hourani,G. F. (Leiden,1959), p.8.Google Scholar
44Amidi,,Iḥkām,III,253–254.Google Scholar
45Halkin,, “Hashwiyya,” pp.3–20.Google Scholar See the views of Hashwiyya and ahl al-hadith, including Ibn Hanbal, on matters of government in⊂Abd,Allah b. Muhammad al-Nashi⊃ al-Akbar,Masā⊃il al-lmāma wa-Muqtaṭafāt min al-Kitāb al-Awṣat fī al-Maqālāt, ed.van Ess,J. (Beirut-Wiesbaden,1971), pp.65–67.Google Scholar
46Makdisi,, “The Significance of the Sunni Schools of Law,” p.6.Google Scholar
47Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Ahmad Ibn Hanbal,” by I. Goldziher.
48 Sound istihsan is the analogical inference of rulings based on sound usul methodology. SeeIbn,Taymiyya, “Mas⊃alat al-Istihsan” inMakdisi,G., ed.,Arabic and Islamic Studies in Honor of Hamilton A. R. Gibb (Massachusetts,1965), pp.454–479.Google Scholar
49 SeeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,V,34;Google ScholarHalkin,, “Hashwiyya,” p.27.Google Scholar
50 SeeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,1,105,244;11,89,96,126,131.Google Scholar See alsoGoldziher,,Zahiris, p.31.Google Scholar
51Subki,,Tabaqāt,II,126.Google Scholar Of Ibn al-Mundhir, Subki remarks that “he was a mujtahid that followed no one” (wakāna mujahidan lā yuqallidu aḥadan). Subki also considered Ibn Surayj as the renovator of the fourth/tenth century, seeibid., I, p. 244. Undoubtedly, for later Shafi⊂is, Ibn Surayj was the first great representative of the Shafi⊂i school. He seems to have been the first to reproduce the totality of the Shafi⊂i law, while synthesizing the internal difference of doctrines, e.g., the differences between Shafi⊂i and Muzani. In fact, he composed a work entitledKitāb al-Taqrīb bayna al-Muzanī wal-Shāfi⊂ī(seeIbn,al-Nadim,Fihrist, p.213).Google Scholar
52 SeeIbn,al-Nadim, who allots a separate section in his book for the Jariris;Fihrist, p.234 ff.Google Scholar
53Ibn,Abi al-Wafa⊃ al-Qarashi,al-Jawāhir a1-Mudī⊃a fī Ṭabaqāt al-Hanafiyya, 2 vols. (Cairo,1978),I,137–138.Google Scholar
54Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,II,303–307. See some of his views in pp.306 f.Google Scholar
55ibid., II, 193–205; for his views see especially pp. 195 ff.
56ibid., II, 206–210.
57ibid., 11, 112–125. See especially pp. 115f., 118 f. Subki remarked: “As to his deep knowledge of precise concepts and his excellent ability to extract positive law, Muslims agreed that he was unique in (doing) this. No one from the following generations could equal him in his knowledge … He was remembered as a man of good reputation and ijtihad.”
58 SeeGoldziher,,Zahiris, p.26.Google Scholar
59 Cited inibid., p. 26. For a different version of this account seeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,II,240.Google Scholar
60Ibn,Amir.al-Taqrīr.III,345;Google ScholarIbn,⊂Abidin,al-Rasā⊂il, 2 vols. (Lahore,1976).1,30.Google Scholar
61 SeeBasri,,Mu⊂tamad,II,934 ff.Google Scholar
62Ibn,⊂Abd al-Barr,Jāmi⊂, pp.384,397.Google Scholar
63Baghdadi,,al-Faqīh,II,66–70;Google ScholarMawardi,,Adab,I,269–273.Google Scholar
64Ibn,⊂Abd al-Barr,Jāmi⊂, pp.467–468.Google Scholar
65 On the relationship between political theory and political practice in medieval Islam, seeRosenthal,I. J., “The Role of the State in Islam: Theory and Medieval Practice,”Der Islam,50,1(1973),1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
66⊂Abd,al-Qahir al-Baghdadi,Uṣūl al-Dīn (Istanbul,1928), p.277. This Baghdadi is not to be confused with al-Khatib al-Baghdadi who died in 463/1070.Google Scholar
67⊂Ali,b. Muhammad al-Mawardi,al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyya (Cairo,1960), p.6.Google Scholar See alsoRosenthal,E. I. J.,Political Thought in Medieval Islam (Cambridge,1958). p.29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
68Mawardi,Aḥkām, p.116.Google Scholar
69ibid., p. 66. Cf. my article “Considerations on the Functions and Character of Islamic Legal Theory,” (forthcoming).
70Subki,,Ṭabaqār,III,303–305;Google ScholarGibb,H. A. R., “Al-Mawardi's Theory of the Caliphate,” inShaw,B. andPolk,W., eds.,Studies on the Civilization of Islam (Boston,1962), pp.152,164 n. 6, 165 n. 10.Google Scholar
71Muhammad,al-Juwayni,Ghiyāth al-Umam (Iskandariyya,1979).Google Scholar
72ibid., p. 274.
73ibid., p. 275; this idea is reiterated throughout the book. See, e.g., pp. 271, 282, 283 passim.
74ibid., p. 300. Although the last phrase reads: “watakādu hādhihi al-ṣūratu tuwāfqu hādha lizamānin wa⊂ahlihi,” the last three words ought to be read as “hādha al-zamāna wa⊃ahlahu.”
75ibid., p. 309.
76 See, e.g., the extensive account ofSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,III,249–282.Google Scholar See alsoAbu,al-Fida,Tārīkh, 4 vols. (Qustantiniyah,1870),II,206;Google ScholarIbn,al-Salah,Fatāwā, pp.31–31;Google ScholarShorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Taklid,” by J. Schacht.Google Scholar
77Juwayni,,Ghiyāth, p.376.Google Scholar
78ibid., pp. 397–398.
79Ghazali,,Faḍā⊂ih al-Bāṭiniyya, inGoldziher,I., ed.,Streitschrift des Gazali gegen die BatinijjaSekte (Leiden,1956), p.76.Google Scholar
80ibid., p. 76.
81ibid., p. 78.
82Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,111,264.Google Scholar
83ibid., 111, 251, 256.
84ibid. III, 264; IV, 124.
85Ibn,Khallikan,Wafayāt al-A ⊂yān, ed.Ihsan,⊂Abbas 8 vols. (Beirut,1968–1972),III,168.Google Scholar
86Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,III,264.Google Scholar
87Abu,al-Fida,Tārīkh,II,206.Google Scholar
88Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,III,261–263Google Scholar. Before his death Juwayni is said to have remarked: “(I call upon you) to attest that I abandon any piece of writing that is inconsistent with the (doctrine of the) forefathers.”ibid., 111, 263.
89 On the purposes of Subki in writing hisṬabaqāt, particularly his defense of Ash⊂arism, seeMakdisi,G., “Ash⊂ari and Ash⊂arites in Islamic Religious History,”Studia Islamica,17 (1962),56–80.Google Scholar
90 Ghazali,al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl, printed with⊂Abd,al-Halim Mahmud'sAbḥāth fī al-Taṣwwuf ⊂an al-lmām al-Ghazālī (Cairo,1965), p.68. In several places throughout his books Ghazali conspicuously speaks as a mujtahid. See for instance hisMustasfā, II, 353, 372; idem,Munqidh, pp. 68, 71, 77, 141–142.Google Scholar
91Ghazali,,Munqidh, pp.141–142;Google ScholarIḥyā⊃,1,110–111.Google Scholar
92Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,IV,112.Google Scholar
93ibid., IV, 107.
94Ghazali,,Mustasfā,II,372.Google Scholar
95Ghazali,,Iḥyā⊃,I,63;Google Scholar idem,Munqidh, p.142.Google Scholar
96 For these opinions seeShawkani,,Irshād, p.235.Google Scholar
97Laoust,H., “La pÉdagogie d'al-Gazali dans le Mustasfa,”Revue des Études Islamique,44 (1976),77–78.Google Scholar
98Ibn,⊂Aqil,Funūn,II,649–650.Google Scholar
99ibid., II, 606;⊂Abd,al-Rahman b. Shihab Ibn Rajab,al-Dhayl ⊂alā Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila, ed.Laoust,H. andDahhan,S. (Damascus,1951), pp.189–190.Google Scholar
100Ibn,Rajab,Dhayl, pp.190–194.Google Scholar
101Ibn,⊂Aqil,Funūn,II,602–607,645–647,649–650. See also the introduction of G. Makdisi to this book in Vol. I, xlix-l.Google Scholar
102 This conviction is expressed in a prophetic report. SeeAbu,al-Fida Ibn Kathir,Nihāyat al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya, 2 vols. (Riyad,1968),I,18.Google Scholar
103Schacht,J., “Classicisme, traditionalisme et ankylose dans la loi religieuse de l'lslam,” inBrunschvig,R. andvonGrunebaum,G., eds.,Classicisme et declin culturel dans I'histoire de I'Islam (Paris,1957), p.148.Google Scholar
104Ghazali,,Iḥyā⊂,I,44,III.Google Scholar
105 See, e.g.,Ibn,⊂Aqil,Funūn,1,126–129,349–350;II,504,524–525,529 n. 463,641–645,745–747 passim.Google Scholar
106 Published in 9 vols.(Cairo, 1968?).
107 See his penetrating research inÉtudes de droit Musulman (Paris,1971).Google Scholar Chehata's results were supplemented and confirmed byMeron's,Y. “The Development of Legal thought in Hanafi Texts,”Studia Islamica,30(1969). The early sources that were used by Chehata and Meron are mentioned in the next two notes.Google Scholar
108Abu,al-Hasan al-Quduri,al-Mukhtaṣar, printed with Ghunaymi'sal-Lubāb fī Sharḥ al-Kitāb (Cairo,1961–1963);Google ScholarShams,al-Din al-Sarakhsi,al-Mabsūt, 30 vols. (Beirut, 197–);Google Scholar⊂Ala⊃,al-Din al-Samarqandi,Tuḥfat al-Fuqahā⊂, 3 vols. (Damascus,1964);Google ScholarAbu,Bakr al-Kasani,Badā⊃i⊂ al-Ṣanā⊃i⊂, 7 vols. (Beirut,1974).Google Scholar
109Muhammad,b. Hasan al-Shaybani,al-Aṣl, 4 vols. (Haidarabad, 1966–1973); Ahmadb. Muhammad al-Tahawi, al-Mukhtaṣar (Cairo,1954);Google ScholarAbu,al-Layth al-Samarqandi,Khizānat al-Fiqh, ed.Nahi,S. D. (Baghdad,1965).Google Scholar
110 SeeChehata,,Études, pp.21–22.Google Scholar For a detailed discussion of the developments in the area of legal capacity, seeibid., pp. 93–106: For developments in the area of the wife's maintenance, seeMeron,, “Development of Legal Thought,” pp.74,78–84.Google Scholar
111Meron,, “The Development of Legal Thought,” p.74,78–84.Google Scholar
112Chehata,,Études, pp.98,100,105,166–167;Google ScholarMeron,, “The Development of Legal Thought,” pp.78–84.Google Scholar
113Chehata,,Études, p.166.Google Scholar
114ibid., pp. 105, 170.
115Coulson,,A History of Islamic Law, pp.81,84.Google Scholar
116Professor,G. Makdisi remarked in hisThe Rise of Colleges (Edinburgh,1981), p.290, that he has “not come across any statement to this effect (i.e., the closure) in any document of the Middle Ages…” If this remark was intended to apply to the period up to the end of the fifth/eleventh century, it does not but support our forementioned conclusion. Professor Nicholas Heer has also noted to me that he has not found in classical literature any piece of evidence contrary to my conclusion.eGoogle Scholar
117 This phrase appeared in a discussion inMuhyi,al-Din al-Nawawi,al-Majmū⊂: Sharḥ al-Mudhahhab, 18 vols. (Cairo,1966–1971),I,76.Google Scholar For similar usages seeGhazali,,Mustaṣfā,II,315–316;Google ScholarSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,III,276–277;Google ScholarIbn,⊂Aqil,Funūn,1,92.Google Scholar
118Muhammad,Bakri al-Siddiqi,al-Iqtiṣād fī Bayān Marātib al-Ijtihād (Ms)Princeton,Garrett Collection, Yahuda section 253, fol. 98b.Google Scholar
119Ibn,Kathir,Nihāya,I,30.Google Scholar Another version of the same hadith was translated byGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.85.Google Scholar
120 SeeMaid,al-Din Shihab al-Din, andTaqi,al-Din Ibn Taymiyya,al-Musawwada fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh (Cairo,1964). pp.472,545.Google Scholar
121Ibn,⊂Aqil,Funūn,1,92–93.Google Scholar
122Ibn,Taymiyya,Musawwada, pp.472,545.Google Scholar
123 In fact, Razi (d. 606/1209) is said to have dealt with this problem. But the paucity of information about his views makes any evaluation of his doctrine impossible. SeeShawkani,,Irshād, p.235.Google Scholar
124Amidi,,Iḥkām,III,253–254.Google Scholar
125Ibn,al-Hajib,Mukhtaṣar al-Muntahā (Cairo,1908), pp.233–234.Google Scholar
126Subki,,Jam⊂ al-Jawāmi⊂,II,398–399.Google Scholar
127lsnawi,,Nihāya,III,331,349.Google Scholar
128Taftazani,,Hāshiya,II,307.Google Scholar
129Ibn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,111,339–340.Google Scholar
130Ghazali,,Iḥyā,I,63.Google Scholar
131 On the ranks of mujtahids and degrees of ijtihad seeMirza,Kazim Beg, “Notice sur la march et les progrÉs de la jurisprudence,”Journal Asiatique15, ser. 4 (011850),181–192,204–214;Google ScholarSiddiqi,,lqriṣād, fols. 98a-98b.Google Scholar
132Ibn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,III,293.Google Scholar
133ibid., III, 346.
134 Siddiqi's list includes Qaffal, Ghazali, Ibn ⊂Abd al-Salam, Ibn Daqiq al-⊂ld, Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Taj al-Din al-Subki, and Jalal al-Din al-Suyyuti; seeIqriṣād, fols.99a–99b.Google Scholar
135ibid., fol. 98b.
136Ibn,⊂Abd al-Shakur,Sharḥ,II,399–400.Google Scholar
137Laoust,, “La PÉdagogie,” p.77.Google Scholar
138Ibn,Taymiyya,Musawwada, p.546.Google Scholar
139Nawawi,,Majm⊂ū,1,71.Google Scholar
140Sartain,E. M.,Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (Cambridge,1975), p.65.Google Scholar
141Siddiqi,,1qtiṣād, fol. 97b.Google Scholar
142ibid., fol. 97b.
143⊂Abd,al-Hayy al-Laknawi,al-Fawā⊂id al-Bahiyya fi Tarājim al-Hanafiyya (Benares,1967), p.89.Google Scholar
144 These misunderstandings can further be illustrated by an anecdote that took place at the time of Ibn ⊂Abd al-Salam. When the latter claimed the right of ijtihad for himself, the Sultan Musa b. Ayyub wrote to him: “If you claim to be a mujtahid you must prove it (in a convincing manner) that befits such a serious claim, in order that you become a head of a fifth school.” Ibn ⊂Abd al-Salam replied: “As to what has been mentioned about ijtihad and the fifth school, (I say that) the usul of religion are not subject to differences (meaning that there is no place for a fifth school) … Differences are only in (matters of) furu⊂.” SeeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,V,93,95.Google Scholar
145Mawardi,,Adab,1,463.Google Scholar See examples inIbn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,III,351Google Scholar andGhazali,,Mustasfā,II,384.Google Scholar
146Ibn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,III,340. Rafi⊂i remarked: “wal-khalqu kal-munajiqīna ⊂alā annahu lā mujiahida al-yawma.”Google Scholar
147Subki,,Ṭabaqť,V,120.Google Scholar
148ibid., I, 106. It must be noted that a mujaddid had to qualify as a mujtahid.
149Ibn,Kathir,al-Bidāya wal-Nihāya, 14 vols. (Cairo,1932),XIII,250;Google ScholarIbn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,III,340;Google ScholarSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,V.18;Google ScholarAli,S. Rizwan,Izz al-Din al-Sulami (Islamabad,1978?), p.22;Google ScholarIbn,⊂Abd al-Shakur,Sharh,11,399;Google ScholarSuyyuti,,Ḥusn al-Muḥāḍara fī Akhbār Miṣr wal-Qāhira, 2 vols. (Cairo,1904),1,141–147.Google Scholar
150 Cited inShawkani,,lrshād, pp.235–236.Google Scholar
151 Cited inZarqa,, “Dawr al-ljtihād wa-Majāl al-Tashrī⊂ fī al-Islām,”International Islamic Colloquium Papers (London,1960), p.107.Google Scholar
152 See n. 154 below.
153 See, e.g.,⊂Abd,Allah al-Samhudi,al-⊂Iqd al-Farīd fī Aḥkām al-Taqlþd (MS)Princeton,Garrett Collection, Yahuda Section 5183, fols. 177a, 177b;Google ScholarIbn,al-Amir,Taqrīr,III,340;Google ScholarShawkani,,Irshād, pp.235–236.Google Scholar
154 Consider the following mujtahids: Subki maintained that the Muslim community had agreed that Ibn Daqiq al-⊂Id was a mujtahid as well as a mujaddid.Ibn,Daqiq “was a mujtahid mutlaq with complete knowledge of legal sciences” (Ṭabaqāt,VI,2,3,6).Google Scholar Ibn alRif⊂a, like Subki, professed that an ijma⊂ had been reached concerning “Ibn Daqiq al-⊂ld and Ibn ⊂Abd al-Salam who reached the rank of ijtihad” (seeSiddiqi,,Iqtiṣāa, fol. 99a). Ya⊂muri described Ibn Daqiq as follows: “He was excellent in deriving rulings from the Sunna and the Quran”Google Scholar (Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,VI,2–3;Google ScholarSuyuti,,Ḥusn,1,143).Google Scholar Dhahabi and Ibn Nubata considered al-Qadi al-Zamalkani a mujtahid: For Dhahabi, Zamalkani was one of the remaining mujtahids and for Ibn Nubata he was a “mujtahid on whose opinion doubt must not be cast” (Subki,,Ṭabaqāt),V,251,252;Google ScholarSuyuti,,Ḥusn,I,145).Google Scholar Subki maintained that Razi was chosen by his successors as the mujtahid and the mujaddid of the sixth/twelfth century (Ṭabaqāt,1,106).Google Scholar Abu Shama was acclaimed as a mujtahid within the Shafi⊂i school (Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,V,61;Google ScholarIbn,Kathir,Bidāya,XIII,250).Google Scholar Ibn ⊂Abd al-Salam openly declared himself a mujtahid within the Shafi⊂i school and his claim for the position did not provoke disavowal (Subki,,Ṭabaqār,V,93,95;Google Scholar see also n. 144 above). Although belonging to the Hanbali school, Ibn Taymiyya did not comply entirely with the Hanbali doctrine: He considered himself a mujtahid fi al-madhhab. In many legal cases (about twenty are known to us) Ibn Tayrniyya has diverged from the doctrines of the four eponyms includingIbn,Hanbal. See hisal-Fagāwa al-Kubrā, 5 vols. (Cairo,1966),III,95–96.Google Scholar See alsoShorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, s.v. “Ibn Taymiyya,” byCheneb,M.; Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,I⊂lām al-Muwaqqi⊂in ⊂an Rabb al-⊂ālamīn, 4 vols. (Cairo,1969),II,231.Google ScholarCf.,Laoust, “L'influence d'Ibn Taymiyya,” pp.17,20. Taqi al-Din al-Subki, the father of Taj al-Din (theṬabaqāt's author),Google Scholar was universally recognized as a mujtahid. For Taj al-Din he was “the best of mujtahids.” In fact, Taj al-Din enumerates dozens of cases in which his father completely diverged from Shafi⊂i or rulings he had chosen to follow although they were disfavored in the Shafi⊂i school (see hisṬabaqāt,VI.113,147,182–196).Google Scholar Safadi and Suyuti also thought of Taqi al-Din al-Subki as a unique mujtahid (seeSuyuti,,Ḥusn,1,145–146;Google Scholar idem.,al-Taḥadduth bi Ni⊂mat Allāh, ed.Sartain,E. [Cambridge,1975,] p.205).Google Scholar Taj al-Din al-Subki himself is supposed to have said: “Now, I am the mujtahid of the universe; I say this and I need not justify what I say.” A century and a half later, Suyuti maintained that the statement of Subki was never contested (Siddiqi,,Iqtiṣād, fol. 99b;Google ScholarSuyuti,,Ḥusn,1,150).Google Scholar
155Sartain,,Jalāl al-Din,1,63.Google Scholar
156Suyuti,,Taḥadduth, p.205.Google Scholar
157 The ranks of mujtahids and the confusion about them misled even modern scholars. See, e.g.,Snouck,Hurgronje,Selected Works, ed.Bousquet,G. andSchacht,J. (Leiden,1957), p.282, who thought that Suyuti claimed for himself the highest degree of ijtihad, thus challenging the schools' eponyms.Google Scholar
158Sartain,,Jalāl al-Din,1,64,65.Google Scholar
159 Cited inGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,”Muslim World,68,2 (041978),98.Google Scholar
160 On this seeSuyuti,,Taḥadduth, pp.193,203;Google ScholarSartain,,Jalāl al-Dīn,1,61;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.98.Google Scholar
161Sartain,,Jalāl al-Din,1,61;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” pp.98–99.Google Scholar
162 See the chapter that he devoted to the discussion of this issue inTaḥadduth, pp. 215–227.
163Ibn,Kathir,Nihāya,1,30.Google Scholar Cf. another version of this hadith inGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.81;Google ScholarSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,1,104.Google Scholar
164Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,I,104;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.81.Google Scholar
165Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,1,105;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.82.Google Scholar Ibn ⊂Asakir, however, preferred Ash⊂ari; seeKhuli,A.,al-Mujaddidūn fī al-Islām, 2 vols. (Cairo,1965),1,13.Google Scholar
166Subki,,Ṭabaqār,1,105;Google ScholarSuyuti,,Taḥadduth, p.221.Google Scholar
167 According to the sources that Goldziher used, the Hanbali al-Muqaddisi (d. 600/1203) and the Shafi⊂i Nawawi (d. 676/1277) were designated; seeGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” pp.83–84.Google Scholar However, from the Shafi⊂i viewpoint, Subki chose Razi, favoring him over Rafi⊂i (seeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,I,106).Google Scholar
168Subki,,Ṭabaqāt,I,106;Google Scholar VI, 3;Suyuti,,Taḥadduth, p.220.Google Scholar
169Suyuti,,Taḥadduth, Pp.207,225;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.84.Google Scholar
170Shawkani,,Irshād, p.236;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.82.Google Scholar
172Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. “Ahmad al-Sirhindi,” by Sh. Inayatullah.
173Khuli,,al-Mujaddidūn, p.1. For further details on mujaddids see pp.12–29.Google Scholar
174 Up to the fifth/eleventh century mujaddids were only Shafi⊂is (seeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,1,104–106;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” pp.82–83).Google Scholar The only uncertain exception was Ash⊂ari who was claimed by Shafi⊂is as well as Hanafis (seeQarashi,,Jawāhir,II,544–545). From the sixth/twelfth century onward Shafi⊂i mujaddids remained the majority; the Hanbalis produced a few mujaddids and, as far as I know, there were no Hanafi or Maliki candidates for tajdid.Google Scholar
174 The fifth/eleventh century tabaqat works seem to have been the earliest works that Subki could find as sources for his biographical dictionary; see hisṬabaqāt,I,114.Google Scholar See alsoHafsi's,I. bibliographical essay “Recherches sur le genre ‘Tabaqat’ dans la littÉrature Arabe,”Arabica,23,3 (1976),8–12,17–18,24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
175Laoust,, “La pÉdagogie d'al-Gazali,” p.77.Google Scholar
176Kazem,Beg, “Notice sur la marche,” pp.181–192,204 ff.;Google ScholarIbn,Taymiyya,Musawwada, pp.547–548.Google Scholar
177Ibn,⊂Abidin,Hashiyat Radd al-Muhgar, 8 vols. (Cairo,1966),I,77;Google Scholar idem,Rasāil,1,11–13;Google ScholarSuhrawardy,M., “The Waqf of Moveables”Asiatic Society of Bangal, 7 n.s. (1911), pp.330–331;Google ScholarLaknawi,,Fawā⊂id, pp.89–90.Google Scholar
178Kazem,Beg, “Notice sur la marche,” pp.206–214.Google Scholar
179Nawawi,,Majmū⊂,1,73–74;Google ScholarIbn,Taymiyya,Musawwada, p.549.Google Scholar
180Ibn,⊂Abidin,Ḥāshiya,1,77.Google Scholar
181Ibn,⊂Abidin,Rasā⊃il,I,11.Google Scholar
182Suhrawardy,, “The Waqf,” pp.330–331.Google Scholar
183Ibn,⊂Abidin,Rasā⊂il,I,12.Google Scholar
184 This attitude seems to have started at an earlier period. When dealing with the four law schools as they have become established by the eighth/fourteenth century, the Maliki scholar Ibn Khaldun (d. 808/1405) observed that the complexity of the schools' legal doctrines had prevented people from attaining ijtihad and for this reason scholars made it an obligation for all Muslims to follow the established schools through the writings of renowned jurists. “Jurisprudence,” Ibn Khaldun argues, “means this and nothing else. The person who would claim ijtihad nowadays would be frustrated and have no adherents” (Al-Muqaddima, p. 448 [Rosenthal's trans. III, 8–9). Undoubtedly, Ibn Khaldun had independent mujtahids in mind, because it was well known to him, as much as it was well known to all jurists, that a limited mujtahid or a mujtahid within the school, cannot have followers. From the general usages of ijtihad in theMuqaddima, it seems to me that, for Ibn Khaldun, ijtihad exclusively meant the kind of major legal activity undertaken during the first three centuries of Islam. Consider what he has to say elsewhere in hisMuqaddima: “The school doctrine of each eponym became, among his adherents, a scholarly discipline in its own right. They were no longer in a position to apply ijtihad and qiyas. Therefore, they had to make reference to the established principles (al-uṣūl al-muqarrara) of their eponyms, in order to be able to solve (new) problems according to (old) similar ones and disentangle them when they got confused (tanẓīru al-masā⊂ili fil-⊂ilḥaqi Watafrīquhā ⊂inda al-ishtibāhi). A firmly rooted faculty (of knowledge) was required to enable a person to undertake such (analogy) and disentanglement and to apply the school doctrine of his particular eponym to those (processes) according to the best of his ability. This (practice) of faculty is (what is meant) at this time by the science of jurisprudence” (Al-Muqaddima, p.449).Google Scholar The sentence “tanẓīru al-masā⊂ili … ishtibāhi” was translated by Rosenthal as “to analyze problems in their context and disentangle them when they got confused” (see III, 13). For Ibn Khaldun, therefore, ijtihad is the legal activity that leads to the construction of a new school which will eventually attract adherents. Although the processes of unraveling doctrinal problems and applying analogy to new cases within a school are considered part of the Sunni ijtihad methodology, Ibn Khaldun does not see them as related to ijtihad. For him qiyas and ijtihad are much more than these processes. But whether he accepts the Sunni usulist terminology or not, this is nonetheless a limited form of ijtihad. One may find it striking that Ibn Khaldun insists on the inability of jurists to practice ijtihad at a time when he is familiar with the reputation and career of contemporary mujtahids such as Subki and Bulqini (d. 805/1403), both universally acknowledged as mujtahids fi al-madhhab. Seeal-Muqaddima, p.449 (Rosenthal's trans., 111, 12);Google Scholar for Subki and Bulqini seeSubki,,Ṭabaqāt,VI,146–216;Google ScholarSuyuti,,Ḥusn,I,168 f.;Google ScholarGoldziher,, “On al-Suyuti,” p.84. It is then clear that Ibn Khaldun's conception of this question is an excellent example of the general attitude of muqallids towards the issue of the existence of mujtahids. He knew that the eponyms and their equals were extinct; he also knew that the machine of legal interpretation was constantly at work, but he was still puzzled as to how to square these facts with the ever-growing idea of the extinction of mujtahids. It was, therefore, suitable as well as convenient for him to say that contemporary scholars were incapable of ijtihad, implying the extinction of mujtahids, and that the activity of jurists of his time had nothing to do with ijtihad, despite the fact that it entailed the use of analogy and types of legal interpretation.Google Scholar
185⊂Abd,al-Rahman al-Jabarti,⊂Ajā⊃ib al-āthār fi al-Tarājim wal-Akhbār 7 vols. (Cairo,1958–1967),III,41–42.Google Scholar
186ibid., 1, 186, 218–219; II, 28.
187ibid., III, 65–103, especially p. 65.
188ibid., III, 88. On isiinbāṭ seeIbn,⊂AbidinRasā⊂il,I,31.Google Scholar
189Jabarti,,⊂Aj⊃amacr;ibIII,67.Google Scholar
190 SeeShawkani,,al-Qawl al-Mufīd fī Adillat al-Ijtihād wal-Taqlīd (Cairo,1974),Google Scholar passim;Muhammad,b. Isma⊂il al-San⊂ani,Irshād al-Nuqqād ilā Taysīr al-Ijtihād (Beirut,1970),Google Scholar passim;Shah,Wali Allah,⊂lqd al-jīd (Cairo,1965),Google Scholar passim;Jalbani,G. H.,Life of Shah Waliyullah (Delhi,1980), pp.56–57;Google ScholarIbn,⊂Abidin,Rasāil,1,28.Google Scholar
191Chelebi,,Balance, p.129;Google ScholarMandaville,J. E., “Usurious Piety: The Cash of Waqf Controversy in the Ottoman Empire,”International Journal of Middle East Studies10(1979),295–304.Google Scholar
192Husayn,b. Iskandar al-Rumi,Risāla fī al-Dukhān (MS)Princeton,Garrett Collection, Yahuda Section 3854, fols. 2b-5a;Google ScholarMuhammad,b. Mustafa al-Khadimi,Risāla fī al-Qahwa wal-Dukhān (MS)Princeton,Garrett Collection, Yahuda Section 3225, fols. 48b-49a.Google Scholar On these subjects seeChelebi,,Balance, Chapters II, III, V, VII, XII, XX; Mandaville, “Usurious Piety.”Google Scholar
193The Balance of Truth.
194Schacht,J., “Early Doctrines on Waqf,” inMÉlange Fuad Köprülü (Istanbul,1953),443.Google Scholar
195Mandaville,, “Usurious Piety,” pp.299–304; Suhrawardy, “The Waqf,” 388 ff.Google Scholar
196 See, e.g.. the argument of Bali Effendi inMandaville,, “Usurious Piety,” pp.301–303;Google ScholarChelebi,,Balance, p.129.Google Scholar
197Chelebi,,Balance, p.129.Google Scholar
198 See, e.g., the arguments concerning the legality of hashish inRosenthal,F.,The Herb: Hashish versus Medieval Muslim Society (Leiden,1971), pp.105–130.Google Scholar
199 See, e.g.,Ibn,⊂Abidin,Rasā⊃il,1,28;Google ScholarIbn,⊂Abd al-Shakur,Sharḥ,II,399;Google ScholarSan⊂ani,,Irshād, pp.2,11–12;Google ScholarSamhudi,,al-⊂Iqd al-Farīd, fol. 177b;Google ScholarKhadimi,,R.fi al-Qahwa, fol. 48b.Google Scholar
200Shawkani,,al-Qawl, p.7.Google Scholar
201ibid., pp. 21–24, 31.
202Shawkani,,al-Badr,I,2.Google Scholar
203Shawkani,,lrshād, p.236;Google Scholar idem,al-Badr,1,3.Google Scholar
- 170
- Cited by

