Issues of Ijtihad

What is Peace? was based on the tribal system. It was a tribal protection mechanism, not a specifically Islamic one. Yet, despite this, the prophets accepted it. Likewise, in today’s world, the protection that Muslims enjoy is a secular one, and not a specifically Islamic one. Following the practice of the prophets, Muslims should accept this protective framework and engage peacefully in introducing Islam to the world. However, Muslim ‘leaders’ of the entire world branded secularism as ‘irreligiousness’ (la-deeniyat) and unleashed a verbal as well as physical war against it. In this way, they unnecessarily turned into enemies of secularism. Thereby, they left unused the valuable protection that the secular system provided them. Mercy for Humanity Addressing the Prophet Muhammad, God says in the Quran: We have sent you forth as a mercy to all mankind. (21:107) The advent of the Prophet was an expression of God’s mercy for the whole of humankind. Through the Prophet, God informed us about the principles on the basis of which human beings can come to inhabit what the Quran refers to as daar-us-salaam or ‘home of peace’ (10:25), an abode of peace and security for its inhabitants. Through him, God sent down teachings that can establish peace in human society. The Prophet presented humankind with a