Two Types of Ijtihad: General and Special

This process would naturally lead to the virtues of Islam becoming evident, fulfilling the Quranic description: “people entering God’s religion in multitudes” (110:2). This is exactly what happened. At the time of the Hudaybiyyah treaty, the Muslim population numbered fewer than 1,500. However, within two years of peaceful conditions, their numbers grew to 10,000. This remarkable increase in strength, achieved without a single battle, enabled Muslims to gain dominance through their sheer numerical presence. A similar event occurred in the 13th century when the Mongols, a warlike and militarily powerful force, invaded the Muslim world. Their campaigns devastated Muslim cities from Samarkand to Aleppo and brought an end to the Abbasid Caliphate. The severity of the situation was such that Muslims would say, “If you hear that the Tartars have been defeated, do not believe it” (Al-Kamil fi at-Tarikh by Ibn al-Athir al-Jazari, vol. 10, p. 353). This was the external reality. However, beneath the surface lay another truth: while the Mongols wielded military might, they lacked a cohesive ideology or worldview. Through their interactions with Muslims, the Mongols were exposed to the ideology of Islam. Unable to counter its intellectual and spiritual appeal, many of them accepted the teachings of Islam. This significant development was aptly summarized by the Orientalist Philip K. Hitti: “The religion of the Muslims had conquered where their arms had failed” (History of the Arabs, P. K. Hitti, 1989, p. 488).