MUSLIM WORLD-VIEW — An Islamic Perspective

I SLAMIC jurisprudence, or fiqh, was framed mostly during the Abbasid caliphate. Some of the terms coined by the jurists by way of inference from the Quran and Hadith are Dar ul-Islam (Abode of Islam) Dar ul-Kufr (Abode of disbelief) and Dar ul-Harb (Abode of War) The jurists who devised these terms during the Abbasid period were given the status of mujtahid (one who exercises Ijtihad or independent reasoning in the light of the Quran and Hadith to understand religious matters) in later times, and so these terms were never questioned over the last one thousand years. However, upon perusing this matter, it becomes clear that these terms created by the jurists were against the spirit of Islam. God sees and deals with all human beings in the same light. The Quran refutes notions of God’s 'favoured people' in the strongest of terms. The terms they devised did not exist in the Quran or Hadith. They invented these terms on their own by exercising their right of ijtihad There are many conditions that have to be met before making ijtihad, and ijtihad is only considered valid if it fulfills all the required conditions. Religious scholars have said that the ijtihad of a jurist can be right or wrong, because a human being is liable to make errors in judgment, and a mujtahid is no exception to this. Ijtihad is a principle of Shariah (Islamic law). There is general acceptance among the religious scholars, the ulema, that the source of this principle of ijtihad in the Shariah is a Hadith narrated by Muaz ibn Jabal, a senior companion of the Prophet and recorded by a number of traditionists, like Abu Dawood, At-Tirmizi, An-Nasai, Ibn Majah and Imam Ahmad. The Hadith is as follows: Muaz ibn Jabal said that when the Prophet sent him to Yemen as governor, he asked him how he would decide matters. Muaz replied that he would decide in accordance with the Book of God. Then the Prophet asked him what he would do in case he did not find the required guidance in the Quran. Muaz replied that he would seek guidance in the Hadith. The Prophet asked him what he would do if he failed to find guidance regarding the MUSLIM WORLD-VIEW An Islamic Perspective