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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ijtihad: Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ra'y Section 4 : the Beginnings of Shi’i Ijtihad The Beginnings of Shi’i Ijtihad After the demise of the Prophet (S) in the year 11/632, the need for ijtihad was felt acutely by the Sunnis, for they thought that the continuity of Divine guidance in the form of authoritative texts (nass)had ceased with his (S) demise and the only means of deter­mining the Divine laws that remained was to search for them in the Book of God and the statements and acts of the Prophet (S).

The Shi'ah, on the other hand, believed in the continuity of religious authority and nass after the Prophet (S), and they considered the Infallible Imams of the (A) as embodying the Prophet's authority. Their state­ments (qawl), acts (fi’l) and approvals (taqr'ir)were considered by them authoritative like those of the Holy Prophet (S), and hence as part of the Sunnah.

Accordingly, the Shi'ah did not feel the need for ijtihad contemporaneously with the Sunnis; it was only after the Greater Occultation (al ghaybat al-kubra)of the Twelfth Imam (A) that the Shi’ah came to feel the need to practise ijtihad on an extensive scale. Moreover, the Ahl al-Sunnah came to face various constrictions in the way of deducing laws of Shari'ah for contingent issues on account of distancing themselves from the Imams of the (A) after the Prophet's demise.