What are the conditions for ijtihad?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Does the mujtahid have conditions? Who is authorized for ijtihad, O Shaykh?
Answer:
The one authorized for absolute ijtihad—absolute ijtihad has great conditions. He must be knowledgeable, he must have memorized the evidence for rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, he must be aware of the evidence for rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, he must be knowledgeable of the Arabic language, and he must be knowledgeable of the rules of derivation mentioned in the principles of jurisprudence. This is not possible except for the great imams. As for one who is below that level, he is called a mujtahid within a madhhab. He exercises ijtihad within the madhhab of his imam, taking the stronger position based on evidence. Yes.
Does the mujtahid have conditions? Who is authorized for ijtihad, O Shaykh?
Answer:
The one authorized for absolute ijtihad—absolute ijtihad has great conditions. He must be knowledgeable, he must have memorized the evidence for rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, he must be aware of the evidence for rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, he must be knowledgeable of the Arabic language, and he must be knowledgeable of the rules of derivation mentioned in the principles of jurisprudence. This is not possible except for the great imams. As for one who is below that level, he is called a mujtahid within a madhhab. He exercises ijtihad within the madhhab of his imam, taking the stronger position based on evidence. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 1929 - ما هي شروط الاجتهاد؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.