The Ruling on Sa'id ibn Jubayr's Ijtihad and the Status of Error in Ijtihad
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
What divided the sects, for it split the community at the time of the open dispute?
Answer:
Sa'id ibn Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) was a great imam and one of the imams of the Tabi'un. However, he exercised ijtihad and erred in this matter. May Allah have mercy on him; his ijtihad is rewarded, if Allah wills. His ijtihad is rewarded, but it is not necessary that he be correct in what he did, and his error does not diminish his status. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan an-Nasa'i 5381Sahih (Darussalam). He exercised ijtihad, may Allah have mercy on him.
What divided the sects, for it split the community at the time of the open dispute?
Answer:
Sa'id ibn Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) was a great imam and one of the imams of the Tabi'un. However, he exercised ijtihad and erred in this matter. May Allah have mercy on him; his ijtihad is rewarded, if Allah wills. His ijtihad is rewarded, but it is not necessary that he be correct in what he did, and his error does not diminish his status. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
If a judge passes judgment and strives to reach the right conclusion and gets it right, he will have two rewards; if he strives to reach the right conclusion but gets it wrong, he will still have one reward.
إذا اجتهد الحاكم فأصاب فله أجران وإذا اجتهد فأخطأ فله أجر
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 08 من 13 / شرح العقيدة الطحاوية / نحب أهل العدل والأمانة / صالح الفوزان / العقيدة / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:01:32)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.