The Twenty-seventh Word
- Ijtihad in Islamic jurisprudence
- The Prophet’s Companions
NOTE: To put in their place those who overstep the limits in this matter, the following treatise on ijtihad150 is included here at the request of two of my brothers.
In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.
If they would but refer it to the Messenger and those with authority among them, certainly those who are capable of deductions among them would know it and bring it to light. (4:83)
The door to ijtihad is open, but six obstacles block the way to it.
Six obstacles
FIRST OBSTACLE: During a winter storm or a flood, when even smaller holes are closed, to open new and larger ones is unreason able. Likewise, under the onslaught of a mighty flood, making openings in a wall to repair it leads to being drowned. So, at this
time of the un-Islamic and even anti-Islamic practices, the onslaught of customs from Europe, the legion of religious innovations and the destruction of misguidance, to open new holes and invasion routes in the citadel of Islam in the name of ijtihad is a crime against Islam.
SECOND OBSTACLE: The essentials of Islam are not subject to ijtihad. They are specified and definite, and are like basic food and sustenance without which life is impossible. At present, they are abandoned and neglected. We must strive to restore and revitalize them with all our strength. The principles which early generations of Islam established for deduction of new rules from the main legal sources and the rules they deduced with perfect authority and pure intention are adequate for almost all times and places. Therefore, abandoning them and seeking new ones in an indulgent and fanciful fashion is a harmful innovation and a betrayal of Islam.
THIRD OBSTACLE: Various products are sought in the marketplace according to season and demand. This is also true of humanity’s social life and civilization as well. For example, in our age people seek to secure their worldly life and pursue philosophy and politics, and so the demand for those “products” increases. Attention is given to them and minds are pre occupied with them. However, during the early generations of Islam, the most sought-after “product” was learning from the Word of the Creator of the heavens and the earth what He approves of and wants from us, and how to obtain eternal happiness in the world of the Hereafter, the doors of which had been opened so widely by the light of Prophethood and the Qur’an that they could not be closed.
At that time, all minds, hearts, and souls were focused on understanding the things approved of by the Lord of the heavens and the earth. All conversations, discussions, correspondences, and events were devoted to that point. Therefore, whoever had the capacity was naturally and automatically taught by the ethos of the time. It was as if everything were a teacher that prepared one’s mind and soul, and developed one’s capacity for ijtihad. Such a natural and automatic kind of teaching was so enlightening that one could engage in ijtihad almost without requiring the necessary formal education. With a match-like capacity ready to ignite, such a person displayed the meaning of “light upon light” and quickly became a mujtahid (a practitioner of ijtihad).
But now European civilization is dominant. We face naturalistic philosophy’s heavy pressure, and the conditions of modern life scatter our minds and hearts and divide our efforts and cares. Our minds are estranged from spiritual issues. Thus even if one was as intelligent as Sufyan ibn Uyayna, a great mujtahid who memorized the Qur’an at the age of 4 and later held discussions with scholars, in contrast with the time of Sufyan, one would now need ten times longer to become a mujtahid. If Sufyan became qualified to perform ijtihad in ten years, we would need a hundred years. This is because Sufyan’s natural study began at the age of reason. His capacity developed gradually, was sharpened, and reached the degree where he could learn from everything. In the end, he became like a match (ready to ignite and give light).
As for his counterparts in our own time, our capacity has grown too dull to qualify for being a mujtahid. Our thoughts are absorbed in philosophy, our minds preoccupied with politics, and our hearts giddy with worldly life. We have removed our faculties from ijtihad to the degree of our pre occupation with modern sciences, and have remained backward in regard to it to the extent that we have concentrated on physical and worldly matters. Therefore we cannot say: “I am as intelligent as him. Why can’t I be on a level with him?” We have no right to say this, and we cannot be on the same level as Sufyan.
FOURTH OBSTACLE: A living body has an inherent tendency to expand and grow. Since this tendency is inherent in or comes from within the body, it serves for the body’s development and perfection. If this tendency is an external intervention, it will tear up the body’s skin and destroy it; it is not a growth and development. Similarly, if, like the pious, righteous early generations, those who have entered the sphere of Islam through the door of perfect piety, righteousness and God’s consciousness, and con form to Islam’s essentials strictly have the inclination to expand and the desire to engage in ijtihad, it is a virtue and serves for perfection. But this inclination and desire in those who neglect Islam’s essentials, prefer the world over the afterlife, and occupy themselves with materialistic philosophy destroys Islam’s body and leads to breaking away from the Shari‘a.
FIFTH OBSTACLE: The Law of Islam is heavenly and revealed. Since ijtihad uncovers its hidden rules and commandments, it also is heavenly. However, three factors now make ijtihad worldly:
First factor: The cause for establishing a rule differs from the wisdom and benefit expected of it. Wisdom or benefit is the reason for its preference, while the cause requires its existence. For example, traveling Muslims can shorten their Prayers. The cause for this Divine dispensation is traveling, and the underlying wisdom is the hardship of traveling. Prayers are shortened even if no hardship is encountered, for the cause exists. Muslims who are not traveling and yet encounter hardship cannot shorten the Prayers, for the wisdom or benefit cannot be the cause for this dispensation.
In our day, however, people substitute wisdom or benefit for the cause and act accordingly. Such ijtihad is worldly, not heavenly.
Second factor: People now give priority to worldly happiness; the Shari‘a gives absolute priority to otherworldly eternal happiness, and only a secondary priority to worldly happiness and in the context of its being a means of eternal happiness. Since the present viewpoint is alien to the Shari‘a’s spirit, it cannot exercise ijtihad in the Shari‘a’s name.
Third factor: The principle that absolute necessity makes permissible what the Shari‘a forbids is not always valid, regardless of time and place. If the necessity does not arise from a forbidden act, it may be the cause for permission. But if it arises from a misuse of willpower and unlawful acts, it cannot be the means for any dispensation. For example, if someone becomes drunk and commits some crimes, he cannot be excused for his actions. If he divorces his wife, the divorce is in force. If he murders someone, he is punished. But if his drunkenness is due to force or threat, and not from his own willpower, the divorce and the punishment are considered non-binding. Thus a chronic drunkard cannot claim innocence by saying: “I am forced to drink it, and so it is lawful for me.”
These days, many things that are not necessary for people’s life have become necessary and an addiction because of people’s voluntary misuse of their will-power, unlawful inclinations, and forbidden acts. Thus they cannot be the means for a dispensation or making the unlawful lawful. Those who favor exercising ijtihad in the present circumstances build their reasoning on such “necessities,” and so their ijtihad is worldly, the product of their fancies, and under the influence of modern trends of thought. In short, it does not accord with the Shari‘a and therefore is worldly. If any exercise of authority in the Divine ordinances of the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and interference in the worship of His servants does not depend on that Creator’s permission, that exercise of authority and interference are rejected.
SIXTH OBSTACLE: Respected mujtahids who lived close to the time of the Prophet and the Companions (the Age of Light and Truth) were purified by that light and exercised ijtihad with pure intentions. Their modern counterparts look at the Qur’an from such a great distance and from behind so many veils that it is very hard for them to see even its clearest letter.
Question: The Companions were human beings who could make mistakes and contradictions. However, the Shari‘a commandments established by the Sunna and the early mujtahids’ conclusions reached through ijtihad are founded upon the Muslim community’s general belief and unanimous agreement that all Companions are just, truthful, and do not lie.
Answer: The absolute majority of Companions were lovers of truth, devoted to truthfulness, and desired justice. In that age, the ugliness of lying and deception was demonstrated in all its ugliness, and the beauty of truth and truthfulness in all its beauty. The distance between them was as great as that between the ground and God’s Supreme Throne, or between the degree of the truthfulness of Prophet Muhammad (the highest rank) and the deceptiveness of Musaylima the Liar (the lowest rank). Indeed, just it was lying that brought Musaylima to the lowest of the low, so it was truthfulness and right which elevated Muhammad the Trustworthy to the highest of the high.
The Companions, illumined by the light of companionship with the Sun of Prophethood, had lofty emotions and sentiments and adored good morals. They never lied voluntarily, as this is infinitely ugly and degrading. They avoided lying just as they avoided unbelief, for the two usually go together. While narrating and communicating the Shari‘a’s commandments, they took great care to seek the truth, be truthful, and conform to the truth. They understood that the truth is infinitely beautiful, a means of pride and glory, and a stairway to spiritual perfection. It is in greater demand than the other “gems” in the Pride of Messengership’s elevated treasury, and illuminates humanity’s social life with its splendid beauty.
In our time, the distance between truth and lying has become so narrow that they stand side by side. It is extremely easy to pass from truth to lying. In fact, political propaganda has made lying preferable to truth. Thus if the ugliest and most beautiful things are sold together and for the same price, the brilliance of truth, which is infinitely sublime and priceless, is not to be bought in blind reliance on the merchant’s skills and word.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
150 Ijtihad means, after acquiring the required knowledge and competence, deducing rules of law through juristic reasoning from original sources—the Qur’an and Sunna—if they present no decisive ruling on a particular matter. (Tr.)