Source: Dawn
Author: Ali Asghar Engineer
Is `ijtihad` a closed deal? AFTER the recent fatwa from Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband, (some deny that a fatwa was issued) saying that a Muslim woman cannot work with strange men and if she did her earnings would be haram (prohibited), a debate is raging on the need for ijtihad (reinterpretation of Sharia laws). It is suggested that the doors of ijtihad that were closed after the sack of Baghdad in the year 1258 must be reopened. It must be pointed out here that there is no church in Islam; thus, there is no single authority which can issue its diktats to keep the practice of ijtihad closed or to reopen it. When Ibn Taymiyyah issued the fatwa on jihad after the sack of Baghdad he went against his Hanbali school and gave the fatwa based on his own authority. The Hanbali school requires submission to the ruling authorities.
Categories: Law
As there is no central leadership among Muslims, especially Sunnis, except for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Ismaelis, they behave like headless chicken and a chaotic mob and Fatwas and speeches by different, so called, scholars or Muftis are merely power play and an exercise in keeping the masses dumbed down.