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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ijtihad: Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ra'y Section 3 : Factors Responsible For Emergence of the Practice of Ra'y Factors Responsible for Emergence of the Practice of Ra'y At the most sensitive juncture in the history of Islam when the Muhammadan Shari ah was in the course of expansion, the process of wahy (revelation) was terminated and with it the epoch of tashri` (legislation).

The losing of the era of tashri’ and the demise of the Prophet (S) coincided with the emergence of diverse changes in the world of Islam. These changes were the result of the spread of Islam in new territories and alien soils, followed by new situations and problems each one of which required an answer. The passage of time did not offer any solution to the problems; rather it added to their intricacy and their number as well.

For, with time, sometimes even the problems that had received exposition during the period of tashri` were lost in the mazes of ambiguity arising from different narrations and riwayat (traditions), thus giving rise to new obstacles in the way of determining the laws (ahkam).

At this point, while the Islamic Ummah had no access to wahyand had lost the biggest source towards which they looked for the solution of their problems, much greater problems cropped up, and this vacuum was felt more acutely than ever before.

Two different outlooks emerged in order to confront this difficult situation in the newly-born Islamic society: (a) The point of view that the authority for determining the Divine ahkam and expounding the Quranic meanings belonged to the House of the Prophet (S) after him, and that they alone, in accordance with the Prophet's express decree, should be referred to for solution of the problems and determination of the ahkam of the Almighty.

Those who believed in this outlook did not face any insoluble problem in the wake of the cessation of wahy, as they knew well that their duty was to refer to the Ma`sumun (A). [^1] (b) The view that there was no specified person after the Prophet to interpret and determine the Divine commandments. Its proponents maintained that the Book and the Sunnah of the Prophet (S) were the only sources from which the ahkam regarding the new legal issues could be derived.