Ijtihad, Its Conditions, and Whether It Has Ceased
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
In his final question regarding ijtihad, he asks: When does it occur? What are its conditions? And has it ceased?
Answer:
Ijtihad has ceased, but its conditions must be present. The conditions of ijtihad are that a person must possess knowledge that qualifies him to exercise ijtihad by deriving evidence from the Book and the Sunnah and extracting the rulings of the Shari'ah from them. If the conditions of ijtihad are met in him, he exercises ijtihad. As for one in whom the conditions of ijtihad are not met, if he has little knowledge or weak comprehension, it is not permissible for him to exercise ijtihad and issue independent rulings on matters of the Shari'ah. Rather, his obligation is to follow a scholar and ask the people of knowledge about what is difficult for him. Allah the Exalted said:[An-Nahl 16:43]. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
In his final question regarding ijtihad, he asks: When does it occur? What are its conditions? And has it ceased?
Answer:
Ijtihad has ceased, but its conditions must be present. The conditions of ijtihad are that a person must possess knowledge that qualifies him to exercise ijtihad by deriving evidence from the Book and the Sunnah and extracting the rulings of the Shari'ah from them. If the conditions of ijtihad are met in him, he exercises ijtihad. As for one in whom the conditions of ijtihad are not met, if he has little knowledge or weak comprehension, it is not permissible for him to exercise ijtihad and issue independent rulings on matters of the Shari'ah. Rather, his obligation is to follow a scholar and ask the people of knowledge about what is difficult for him. Allah the Exalted said:
So ask the people of the message if you do not know.
فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، برنامج (فتاوى) (162) لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان بتاريخ [1439-04-23] - كبار العلماء — youtube.com (25:54)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.