People co-operate with each other about them even though it...

People co-operate with each other about them even though it is against the Religion of Allah. If wrong had been pure and unmixed it would not be hidden from those who are in search of it. And if right had been pure without admixture of wrong those who bear hatred towards it would have been silenced. What is, however, done is that something is taken from here and something from there and the two are mixed!

At this stage Satan overpowers his friends and they alone escape for whom virtue has been apportioned by Allah from before.”[^3] Ra’y and Ta’wil were the first terms to enter the Islamic legislation. Yet a confusion has occurred between the two; by Ra’y , they have meant interpretation, and by both Ra’y and Ta’wil , they have meant Ijtihad.

As for the other terms, such as Qiyas (analogy), Istihsan (Equitable Preference) and Maslahah (advantage), they have been modern terms that were rarely used in some texts. Although their roots were practically existent in that age, these terms were not used as expansively as they are now. The matter attained climax when the Tabi'un (followers of the Sahabah) interpreted Ta’wil into alteration so largely that this signification became common in the Muslim community.

For instance, they asked Imam al-Husayn to rest upon Ta’wil and stop his blessed march towards martyrdom. It has been narrated that `Umar ibn `Ali came to Imam al-Husayn and suggested, “You may rest upon Ta’wil and thus you can swear allegiance to Yazid!”[^4] Hence, the term of Ijtihad is equivalent to that of Ta’wil whose signification was increasingly distorted until it reached its climax during the ages of the Umayyad and `Abbasid dynasties.

Even `Abd al-Rahman ibn `Awf, who at the Shura (consultative) Committee tried to bind `Uthman and the Muslims with the adoption of the manners of Abu-Bakr and `Umar only, could not stop against the torrential trend of Ra’y and Ta'wil that continued expansion after it had been rooted by Abu-Bakr and `Umar. Similarly, `Abd al-Rahman’s attempt to restrict the Ijtihad to the deeds of Abu-Bakr and `Umar and ban the other Sahabah from practicing it failed, too.

This is because the door of Ra’y and Ta'wil was wide open and thus it was unfeasible to close it causing each and every individual to demand with having his personal views accepted in the same way as the personal views of Abu-Bakr and `Umar were accepted.