The term ijtihad...

The term ijtihad, however, was in vogue during the time of the Prophet (S) and even during the time of the Sahabah and Tabi`un-in its literal sense, i.e. striving and making effort in doing something. We find many instances of its use in this sense (some of which were men­tioned in our article entitled: "A Study of the Sources of Ijtihad"). The need for ijtihadin the sense of exercising ray and personal opinion given to it by the Ahl al-Sunnah was felt after the Prophet's demise.

This matter will be elaborated under the heading "The Emer­gence of ijtihad bi al-ray" later in this article. There appears to be no connection between the lexical meaning of ijtihad and the sense of the practice of ray and reliance upon personal opinion.

If the lexical meaning of the term ijtihadas defined by lexi­cographers is taken into account, the application of the word to the process of extracting a hukm by means of ray and personal opinion gives it another sense, for there is no similarity between the two. The lexicographers define ijtihad as an activity accompanied by endeavour and hard effort.

Thus, if any individual formulates his personal judge­ment and presents it to society as a Divine law merely on account of not finding any dictum in the Quran and the Sunnah, this exercise of his would not be regarded as an ijtihad. The deduction of a law in a legal issue through exercise of ray and subjective judgement, if it is not supported by the principles of the Shari'ah and its general laws, cannot be acknowledged as a hukm of the Shari'ah and a Divine law.

Because a hukm of the Shari'ah is a Divine commandment revealed to the Holy Prophet (S) through the agency of Jibrail (A), not a rule that is the product of ray and subjective opinion of a mujtahid. For the personal judgement of an individual cannot be called a Divine injunction and a huhm of the Shari'ah. Approving of the tradition concerning Mu'adh and accepting ijtihad in the sense given to it by the tradition results in such disastrous consequences as no lawgiver would allow.

The repercussions and evil effects of this tradition are as follows: a) If a hukm formulated by a mujtahid by exercising ray and subjective opinion is regarded a hukm of the Shari'ah and a Divine injunction, it means that all the individuals who exercise ijtihad by ray, each of them occupies the high station of a Divine legislator and lawgiver, whereas it is neither possible nor proper to accept this.