It means that in the same manner as a mujtahid relies on sources like the Quran...

It means that in the same manner as a mujtahid relies on sources like the Quran, the Sunnah, `aql and ijma` for deriving ahkam, he can also rely on ray and subjective opinion by taking recourse to instruments of presumption (like qiyas, istihsan, masalih mursalah, istislah, madhhab al-Sahabi, fath al-dhara'i`, sadd al-dhara'i`, etc.) for issues on which there is no express text in the Quran and the Sunnah.

In the second conception ijtihad means deduction of the fari ahkam from the reliable sources (the Quran, the Sunnah, ijma` and `aql). Ijtihad in this sense occurs in the writings of Ahmad Mustafa al-Zarqa', the author of al-Madkhal al-fiqhi al-`amm, and Shi'i fuqaha' have sub­scribed to this view long since.

According to this conception, the activity of the mujtahid involves deduction of the laws of the Shari'ah for emergent issues and new phenomena of life by employing general principles and rules. Thereby the mujtahid refers new secondary issues to the general principles and applies the general laws to their particular instances in external reality, thus obtaining the ahkam governing them.

According to this conception, ijtihad is not counted as an independent source of law parallel to the Quran and the Sunnah, but merely as a means for deriving and determining the ahkam from the sources. Ijtihad as an Independent Source in Sunni Fiqh Leading Sunni jurists have chosen the first conception of ijtihad, as an independent source parallel to the Book of God and the Sunnah of the Prophet (S). They have included ijtihad itself, besides the four sources of fiqh, as the fifth one.

Accordingly, they have specified for it a separate section in their books of usul such as Usul al-fiqh, al­ Mustaqfa, al-Ahkam and other works - and have undertaken diverse discussions about it. In accordance with this conception, al-Shafi`i considers qiyas to be same as ijtihad in his Risalah. He writes: What is qiyas? Is qiyas the same as ijtihad, or are they different'? I say, qiyas and ‘ijtihad are two terms which convey the same meaning like `man' and `human being’.

[^41] In Risalah he rejects the opinions of most of Sunni fuqaha' who believe istihsan to be one of the sources of ijtihad, [^42]for the majority of them believe ‘ijtihad to be synonymous with ray, qiyas, istihsan and istinbat. Mustafa `Abd al-Razzaq is one of them; he writes: The ray of which we speak is the mujtahid's reliance on his subjective opinion and judgement for obtaining a law of the Shari'ah.