THE ROLE OF SUBJECT (MUJTAHID) IN AL-SHAFI'I'S METHODOLOGY: HERMENEUTIC APPROACH

Abstract

Ever since the Qur'an was revealed, Muslims have been making great
efforts to understand and live in accordance with it. Within a very short
period of time after the Prophet's death, schools of fish emerged in the
Hijaz, Iraq, and Syria. They defined the sources of the religion (al-din)
and engaged in developing methods to better understand them. By the
early part of the second century, more systematic approaches appeared;
the roots of the schools that emerged reached back to the Companions of
the Prophet as well as to the Prophet himself.' Their approaches represented
man's natural tendencies to understanding the din. Many schools
appeared only to fade away and be replaced by ones more comprehensive
in their approach. In the late second century, Imam al-Shafi'i (150-
204 A.H.) put forward the first systematic methodology of fiqh. In his
work, al-Risalah, Imam al-Shafi'i offered a methodoIogy for the very
purpose of understanding the din. Of course, the methodology took for
granted a certain definition of Islam. Even though his methodology drew
from prior lines of thought, it is widely accepted that as an original
methodology, the Imam's theory of fiqh drastically transformed the perception
of Islam that had hitherto prevailed."
In order to change the approach toward the din, he redefined concepts
such as Sunnah and ijtihad. He identified ijtihad with qiyas; and whereas
the term Sunnah had been used for the practice of the Muslim community,
the Imam restricted its application to the Sunnah of the Prophet
and the companions. In his vocabulary the concept of hikmah took on
considerable importance. Al-Shafi'i can almost be singled out by his definition
of the concept of hikmah from other Muslim scholars. In order to
establish and consolidate the authority of the Sunnah on the basis of the
Qur'an, he interpreted and defined this Qur'anic concept as being synonymous
with the Sunnah ...