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2 - The open gate of ijtihād

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2009

R. Michael Feener
Affiliation:
National University of Singapore
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Summary

Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal once said: “A man must be severely limited in his knowledge if he chooses to imitate another person in matters of belief.” Indeed it is not permissible that we should follow others uncritically, not even men of the caliber of Abū Bakr, ‘Alī, Aḥmad, or Shāfi’ī.

Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 1201), Kitāb Akhbār al-Ṣifāt

Critical studies of the history of Islamic law and jurisprudence by European scholars had for most of the twentieth century been preoccupied with the question as to when, if ever, the “gate of ijtihād” was closed. While the fine points of an imagined chronology of this event were disputed among Orientalists, there seemed to be until relatively recently something of a consensus that this closure did indeed occur and that its result was a prolonged period of “ankylose” that was shaken into activity once again only in the modern period. A powerful challenge to this view was proffered by Wael Hallaq in a landmark 1984 article that demonstrated the continuing practice of various forms of ijtihād throughout Islamic history as well as its significance in the development of both theoretical jurisprudence and positive law over the centuries. Since then a number of studies have been devoted to the subject that have served to further our understanding of ijtihād/ taqlīd discourses in Islamic history.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • The open gate of ijtihād
  • R. Michael Feener, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Muslim Legal Thought in Modern Indonesia
  • Online publication: 29 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511495540.004
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  • The open gate of ijtihād
  • R. Michael Feener, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Muslim Legal Thought in Modern Indonesia
  • Online publication: 29 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511495540.004
Available formats
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  • The open gate of ijtihād
  • R. Michael Feener, National University of Singapore
  • Book: Muslim Legal Thought in Modern Indonesia
  • Online publication: 29 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511495540.004
Available formats
×