Mujtahid

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Mujtahid (Arabic: مُجْتَهِد) or faqīh (Arabic: فَقیه; translated as "jurist") is a person who has the ability to deduce the jurisprudential (fiqhi) rulings from reliable sources. There are different types of mujtahids: absolute (mutlaq) and partial (mutajazzi); actual and potential; the most knowledgeable (a'lam), and qualified (jami' al-shara'it). Well-known Shiite mujtahids and faqihs include al-Shaykh al-Tusi, al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli, al-'Allama al-Hilli, al-Shaykh al-Ansari, and Mirza Shirazi.

Muhammad Hasan Najafi, known as Sahib Jawahir, Shia Faqih in the 13th/19th century

Definition

A "mujtahid" or "faqih" refers to someone who has the ability to deduce jurisprudential rulings from reliable sources.[1] The process of deducing such rulings from evidence or the ability to do so is called "ijtihad".[2]

Difference between Mujtahid and Marja'

Main article: Marja'iyya

Not all mujtahids are marja'. Marja' is a mujtahid who is followed by other people; that is, people practice their religious obligations in accordance with his fatwas or jurisprudential views and pay their religious payments (al-wujuhat al-shar'iyya) to him or his representatives.[3]

Types of Mujtahid or Faqih

According to different distinctions, a mujtahid can be of the following types:

Absolute mujtahid: a mujtahid who has the ability to deduce jurisprudential rulings and has, through this process, deduced the majority of jurisprudential rulings.[4]

Partial mujtahid: a mujtahid who has the ability to deduce jurisprudential rulings in certain parts of fiqh (jurisprudence).[5] Some faqihs do not take as legitimate the following of a partial mujtahid, and others hold that he can be followed in those of the rulings that he has deduced.[6]

Actual mujtahid: a mujtahid who has, in addition to the ability to deduce jurisprudential rulings, actually deduced many such rulings.[7]

Potential mujtahid: a mujtahid who has the ability to deduce jurisprudential rulings, but has not actually deduced many such rulings.[8]

Infitahi (accessibility-believing) mujtahid: a mujtahid who maintains that decisive or probabilistic grasp of jurisprudential rulings is accessible or open, that is, jurisprudential rulings can be deduced through reliable decisive or probabilistic evidence.[9]

Insidadi (closure-believing) mujtahid: a mujtahid who holds that decisive or probabilistic grasp of jurisprudential rulings is closed or impossible.[10] There is a disagreement among faqihs as to whether it is permissible to follow a closure-believing mujtahid.[11]

A'lam mujtahid: a qualified faqih who is more skillful and knowledgeable than other faqihs in the deduction of jurisprudential rulings.[12] Some faqihs hold that it is obligatory to follow the a'lam mujtahid if available, and others take to be an obligatory precaution.[13]

Qualified (jami' al-shara'it) mujtahid: a mujtahid who meets all the required conditions for being followed by laypeople. Some of the conditions include: being a man, being sane, being a legitimate child, and being an Imami Shi'a.[14]

Marja': a mujtahid who is followed by people, that is, people do their religious practices in accordance with his fatwas or jurisprudential views.[15]

Conditions of a Qualified Mujtahid

According to the fatwas of faqihs, a person who is not a mujtahid should either follow a mujtahid, that is, he or she should practice his or her religious obligations in accordance with a mujtahid's views, or should practice precaution, that is, he or she should act in such a way that it is assured that he or she has done the obligation.[16] In order for it to be legitimate to follow a mujtahid, conditions should be satisfied by him, and if the conditions are met he will count as a qualified mujtahid. The conditions of a qualified mujtahid as agreed by all contemporary faqihs consist in the following:

Being a man, being mature, being sane, being a Twelver Shi'a, being a legitimate child, being alive, being righteous, and being a'lam (the most knowledgeable).[17]

Permission for Ijtihad

Main article: permission for ijtihad

In recent centuries, it has been customary for graduates of Islamic seminaries to be verified as mujtahids orally or in writing by their masters when they obtained mastery of fiqh. The verification is called "permission for ijtihad".[18]

Well-Known Shiite Faqihs

There have been many faqihs throughout the history of the Shiite fiqh. Below are the best-known such faqihs in the order of the dates of their deaths:

from right to left: Al-Sayyid Abu l-Qasim al-Khoei, Al-Sayyid Muhsin al-Hakim, Sayyid Mahmud Husayni Shahrudi, Sayyid Ali Tabrizi Shia Mujtahids in 15th/21th century

Early and Recent Faqihs

In Shiite jurisprudential writings, faqihs who lived prior to al-Shaykh al-Tusi are usually referred to as "qudama' (ancient),[20] from al-Shaykh al-Tusi to, and not including, al-'Allama al-Hilli, are referred to as "mutaqaddimun" (early),[21] and from al-'Allama al-Hilli to those prior to the first generation of contemporary faqihs are referred to as "muta'akhkhirun (recent).[22] And contemporary faqihs are referred to as "muta'akhkhiru l-muta'akhkhirin" (the most recent).[23]

Such a classification is based on their different jurisprudential methodologies.[24] However, such labels are relative, and other classifications are also available. For example, such scholars have referred to all faqihs prior to al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli as "qudama'" (ancient).[25]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 69.
  2. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 69.
  3. ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Mishkīnī, Iṣtilāḥāt al-uṣūl, p. 19.
  5. ↑ Mishkīnī, Iṣtilāḥāt al-uṣūl, p. 19.
  6. ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 4.
  7. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 75.
  8. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 71.
  9. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 696.
  10. ↑ Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh, p. 696.
  11. ↑ Ḥusaynī al-Shīrāzī, al-Wuṣūl ilā Kifāyat al-uṣūl, vol. 8, p. 393-394.
  12. ↑ Anṣārī, Maṭāriḥ al-anẓār, vol. 2, p. 679.
  13. ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 19.
  14. ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 13.
  15. ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 4.
  16. ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 11.
  17. ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 13-15.
  18. ↑ Gurjī, "Ijtihād", p. 610.
  19. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Dāʾirat al-maʿārif-i fiqh-i muqārin, vol. 1, p. 259-266.
  20. ↑ Badrī, Muʿjam mufradāt usūl, p. 226.
  21. ↑ Badrī, Muʿjam mufradāt usūl, p. 253.
  22. ↑ Badrī, Muʿjam mufradāt usūl, p. 252-253.
  23. ↑ Badrī, Muʿjam mufradāt usūl, p. 252.
  24. ↑ Badrī, Muʿjam mufradāt usūl, p. 226, 252, 253.
  25. ↑ Malikī Iṣfahānī, Farhāng-i iṣtilāḥāt-i uṣūl, vol. 2, p. 60.

References

  • Anṣārī, Murtaḍā al-. Maṭāriḥ al-anẓār. Second edition. Qom: Majmaʿ al-Fikr al-Islāmī, 1383 Sh.
  • Badrī, Taḥsīn al-. Muʿjam mufradāt usūl. Tehran: al-Mashriq li-l-Thiqāfa wa l-Nashr, 1428 AH.
  • Farhangnāma-yi uṣūl-i figh. Qom: Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm wa Farhang-i Islāmī, 1389 Sh.
  • Gurjī, Abū l-Qāsim. 1373 Sh. "Ijtihād". Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī 6:599-611.
  • Ḥusaynī al-Shīrāzī, Muḥammad. Al-Wuṣūl ilā Kifāyat al-uṣūl. Third edition. Qom: Dār al-Ḥikma, 1426 AH.
  • Khomeini, Rūḥollāh. Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil. Eighth edition. Qom: Markaz-i Nashr-i Islāmī, 1424 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Dāʾirat al-maʿārif-i fiqh-i muqārin. Qom: Madrisat al-Imām ʿAlī, 1427 AH.
  • Malikī Iṣfahānī, Mujtabā. Farhāng-i iṣtilāḥāt-i uṣūl. Qom: ʿAllāma, 1379 Sh.
  • Mishkīnī, Mīrzā ʿAlī. Iṣtilāḥāt al-uṣūl. Sixth edition. Qom: al-Hādī, 1416 AH.
  • Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1428 AH.
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