The Crisis of Thought and Ijtihad

Abstract

The Muslim mind experienced a crisis of thought when, duting the
early centuries of the Islamic eta, ijtihad began to be viewed as limited
to legal matters rather than as a methodology for dealing with all aspects
of life. This limited understanding engendered a malaise that allowed
taqlid to attain such prominence and tespectability that its cancetous, constricting,
and irrelevant fiqh spread throughout Muslim life. Had ijtihad
retained mote of its lexical meaning and cteativity, and had fiqh been
considered only one of its uses, perhaps Muslims would have overcome
many of the problems that confronted them. However, this patticularization
of ijtihad confined the Muslim mind, and taqlid eventually led to
the paralysis of its creative abilities.
Had ijtihad remained a way of life for Muslims as Allah commanded,
they would not have fallen behind in establishing the Islamic sciences
necessary for their society and civilization. They also would not have had
to watch the reins of leadership fall pass to the West, whose most important
qualification was its ability to engage in creative and scientific teasoning.
Although its intellectual tradition was tainted with pagan Greek
influences, the West achieved world leadetship. Had Muslims taken up
those sciences and laid the foundations of society on the basis of tawbd
(unity), the face of the earth would be different today and the state of civilization
itself would be fat more felicitous than it is at present.
Before ijtihad was confined to the purely legalistic framework of fiqh,
the Muslim mind was enlightened, eager to deal with all manner of
thought, and able to meet challenges, generate solutions, and achieve its
goals. Had it not been for taqlid and its subduing of the Muslim mind,
that mind would have achieved great things. Certainly, a mind with its
beginnings in the verse, "Read! in the name of your Lord Who created
. . ." should be mote than able to renew the ummah's mentality, to continually
adjust to changing circumstances, and to initiate the sciences of
civilization at a time when the West was o v e m by wild forest tribes.
What Do We Mean by Ijtihad?
For the teasons indicated above, we ate calling for a new type of ijtihad.
Rather than the ijtihad specified by the scholars of usd, which will ...