But after the end of the period of the sahabah ...

But after the end of the period of the sahabah , on account of the emergence of new issues in jurisprudence, a number of the Followers { tabi‘un } (the generation succeeding the sahabah ) had engaged in matters of jurisprudence { fiqh } and the term faqih {jurist or jurisprudent} was applied to them.

Among them were the “seven jurists” of Medina.[^6] The State of Jurisprudence among the Shi‘ah The state of jurisprudence among the Shi‘ah was different owing to the presence of the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) and ijtihad , then discussed among the Ahl as-Sunnah, was not developed among the Shi‘ah.

It can be said in general that the Shi‘ah jurisprudence during the periods of the presence of the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) up to the end of the minor occultation { ghaybah as-sughra } has been at the period of settlement and preparation for ijtihad .[^7] With the presence of the infallible Imams ( ‘a ), keeping open the door of knowledge and accessibility of the textual sources, the need for ijtihad , which largely depends on intellectual bases, had not been much felt then.

Shi‘ah jurisprudence on the basis of ijtihad was first founded by Ibn Abi ‘Aqil ‘Ummani (died in the first part of the fourth century AH), a contemporary of al-Kulayni. After him, Muhammad ibn Junayd Askafi (died mid-fourth century AH) continued his way and fortified the edifices of ijtihad and juristic deduction { istinbat }. They are known as the “ Qadimayn ” {the two seniors}.

Shaykh al-Mufid (died 413 AH) and Sayyid Murtadha ‘Alam al-Huda (died 436 AH) also followed the path of ijtihad until it was the turn of Shaykh at-Tusi (460 AH). The Shi‘ah jurisprudence attained a glorious stage through this great man. Apart from writing reliable books on hadith , At-Tahdhib and Al-Istibsar , he also strived to collect books on jurisprudence and ijtihad , authoring such books on jurisprudence as An-Nihayah , Mabsut and Khilaf .

Of course, it does not mean that ijtihad and jurisprudence had never been discussed during the presence of the pure Imams ( ‘a ). As a matter of fact, some people had no direct access to the pure Imams ( ‘a ) due to location and peculiar conditions.

So, in this regard, the pure Imams ( ‘a ) presented to the people the criteria by which to identify the jurists to whom they could refer in case of necessity, dealing in a sense with the preliminary ijtihad as well as answering the inquiries of people.