Talk:Ijtihad

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[edit] Ijtihad in sunni-islam and shia-islam

Is the separation of ijtihad in Sunni-islam and shia-islam nessecary?

To me it seems the chapter concerning ijtihad in sunni-islam is far more specific than the one on ijtihad in Shia-islam, which seems to be a more general explanation/definition of ijtihad?

Besides: What's with the headline in the chapter on ijtihad in Shia-islam? right now it says Ijtihad in 12er Shi'a Islam. which hardly seems to be on purpose? Gregers 22:35, 16 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] terminus technicus

WHAT is a terminus technicus? -- Zoe

terminus technicus (lat.): technical term. Easy, isn't it? In German it is a quite common foreign expression. But I'll change it if most English readers don't understand it ;-) --Elian
Please do. Most English readers don't speak Latin. -- Zoe
Beg to differ - that phrase is so standard that most English speakers DO know it.--Doric Loon 15:02, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] ?

"usul al-fiqh" can you explain ?
Ericd

[edit] POV

"This resulted in the muslims entering the dark ages, where they have been ever since." . Um, that doesn't sound very NPOV, does it? 80.126.238.189 18:39, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

80.126.238.189; Either they did or they didn't. Ijtihad only has meaning in modern discussion if they did. I encourage everyone to read this wonderful article on the topic.
--Daelin 09:34, 7 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Ijtihad

I think a more proper translation of "ijtihad" would be "(active) initiative" (as opposed to "(passive) imitation"). The basic meaning is "effort," without necessarily having the connotation of "an effort against s.o. or something." Ijtihad is a personal effort to make a rational determination about what is right to do under given circumstances, and as such resembles the European tradition of casuistry in some ways.

[edit] Edward Lane's definition

"... exerting the faculties (of the mind) to the utmost for the purpose of forming an opinion in a case of law (respecting a doubtful and difficult point); the seeking to form a right opinion; investigation of the law, or the working out of a solution to any difficulty in the law, by means of reason and comparison ..."

[edit] "Jihad"

I'm guessing that this is the same word most often rendered in English as "jihad". Am I mistaken? That spelling does not even appear in this article. I'm not interested in arguing over the article title, but assuming it is the same word, such a common spelling should certainly appear in the article. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:14, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

No, it has nothing to do with jihad; both terms do come from the same verb "jahada", but have very different meanings. - Mustafaa 23:16, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

That itself would probably be worth explaining. Not at all obvious to those of us who do not speak Arabic. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:33, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)
Given that one of the meanings of "jahada" is "meditate upon something" (according to Omar's "Dictionary of the Holy Qur'an") I think it's an error to maintain in the entry that ijtihad has nothing to do with jihad. It has nothing to do with WAR, of course, but then one can make the argument that jihad has nothing to do with that, either, at least as far as the Qur'an is concerned. (This is a topic of much interest over at jihad, but that's another story.) Anyway, I'd like to propose a rewrite that pointing out that the two words come from the same root verb, and that both touch on struggle, effort, and meditation. Thoughts? BrandonYusufToropov 00:38, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Yes, and while you're at it, could you just explain how the form comes about - a <t> appearing in the middle of a word is odd. I know no Arabic, but I am guessing this is something like a Hebrew hithpael, where the prefix hith- gets added to a verb, and if the verb starts with sh- a metathesis takes place so that -thsh- becomes -shth-. It would help me a lot to know if this is the same (it+jehad=ijtehad?) - it's easier to remember foreign words if you know what's happening in them. --Doric Loon 15:02, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I'm still at kindergarten level with Arabic, but I can tell you that the words build from the beginning and the middle sometimes, not from the end as we might expect in English. So the root combination J-H-D can be manipulated in all kinds of directions, offering subtle variations on the initial concept, and permitting many orthographic liberties, including the present case. I don't know what the heck the "T" is doing in there, but I know the word derives from the root three-consonant pattern J-H-D. Here is a fair-use quote on the etymology:
"Ijtihad: Ijtihad has been derived from the root word Jahada. Ijtihad literally means striving or self-exertion. Ijtihad consists of intellectual exertion. Ijtihad is a very broad source of Islamic law and comes after the Quran and the Sunnah." (from http://www.ymofmd.com/books/uaf/taarud_and_ijtihad.htm) BrandonYusufToropov 03:40, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)
See Arabic_grammar#Stem_formation - the "t" comes in because Ijtihad is a form of stem VIII. --Elian 00:28, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Aha - exactly what I was after. I'll put that cross-reference into the article. Thanks. --Doric Loon 06:40, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I personally think the commn root verb should be ignored in the article. I only have a touris Arabic, but know Hebrew, and can tell you most ENglish speakers will misunderstand root verbs and what it meens that two words share a common root. They usually think "root verb" meens "what the word really meeans." TO get the real idea across it will take more sentances than its worth. Shia1 00:12, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anon added article

Anon, cut-n-pasting a whole article is a copyvio. Giving that much space to one POV would also unbalance the entire article. If you want, put in a link to the online source where you found the article. Zora 06:53, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] re: ijtihad in shi'a islam

No it is certainly necessary to have Sunni ijtihad and Shi'a ijtihad separate. Unfortunately there really isn't much information here (yet), but there is an important distinction. With the Hidden Imam in Greater Occultation (ghayba) the Twelver Shi'a community cannot technically conduct ijtihad. The mujtahid have been said to be the representatives of the Hidden Imam on earth, but this is political doctrine that doesn't fall completely in line with historical Shi'ism and theological dogma. There are many hadith arguing this dissimulation (taqiyya) for the Shi'a community, but Shi'ites through history, such as Ayatollah Khomeini, for instance, make large cases for activist Shi'a government (thus created in Iran in 1979).see: Encyclopedia of Islam articles on id̲j̲tihād and mujtahid and Wilāyat-i faḳīh But it is true that this distinct Twelver section needs work in order to explain this stuff. A.J. 1844, 13 March 2007 Ajaime 23:49, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Qualifications of a Mujtahid

How they came up with these set of criteria to accept someone to be scholar?

I don’t see any signature of them in Quran,except knowing Arabic language of Quran.

For me they are secular since has NO bases on Quran. Wael Faiez 14:42, 16 April 2007 (UTC)