The ijtihad of al-Ghazzali in the fifth century...

The ijtihad of al-Ghazzali in the fifth century, Abu-Tahir al-Salafi in the sixth century,`Izz al-Din ibn `Abd al-Salam and Ibn Daqiq al-`«d in the seventh century, Taqi al-Din al-Sabaki and Ibn Taymiyah, the heretic,([^2]) in the eighth century, and that of `Allamah Jalal al-Din `Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi-Bakr al-Suyuti in the ninth century, were no more than verdicts issued, that had nothing to do with ijtihad, according to modern scientific methodology.

More light has been thrown on this kind of ijtihad in my book of ‘ Tarikh al-Tashri` al-Islami fi Misr (History of Islamic Legislation in Egypt)’. As regarding the scholars of the Imamiyyah Shi`ah , they have authorized themselves to act upon and practice ijtihad in all of its aforementioned forms and insist on practicing it resolutely and never closed its door in the face of…