The conditions that must be present in a mujtahid
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The fifth question of the fatwa number ( 2171 )
Q 5: Is the door of ijtihad in Islamic rulings open to every person, or are there conditions that must be present in the mujtahid, and is it permissible for any person to issue a fatwa based on his opinion without knowing the clear evidence, and what is the grade of the hadith that says: or what is similar to it in meaning?
A 5: Praise be to Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, his family, and his Companions... And to proceed: The door of ijtihad in knowing the rulings of the Shari'ah remains open to whoever is qualified for it; by being knowledgeable of the verses and hadiths he needs in the issue in which he is exercising ijtihad, capable of understanding them and using them as evidence for what he seeks, knowledgeable of the grade of the hadiths he uses as evidence, and of the places of ijma' (scholarly consensus) in the issues he is researching; so that he does not deviate from the consensus of the Muslims in his ruling on them, and aware of the extent of the Arabic language that enables him to understand the texts; so that he can use them as evidence and derive rulings from them. It is not permissible for a person to speak in religion based on his opinion, or to issue fatwas to people without knowledge. Rather, he must
seek guidance from the Shari'ah evidence, then from the statements of the scholars and their consideration of the evidence, and their method of using it as evidence and deriving rulings from it, and then he speaks or issues a fatwa with what he is convinced of and accepts for himself as religion. As for the hadith: it was narrated by the Imam 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi in his Sunan, from 'Ubayd Allah ibn Abi Ja'far al-Misri as a mursal (a report missing the Companion link); because the aforementioned 'Ubayd Allah is a Tabi'i (from the generation after the Companions) and not a Companion. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q 5: Is the door of ijtihad in Islamic rulings open to every person, or are there conditions that must be present in the mujtahid, and is it permissible for any person to issue a fatwa based on his opinion without knowing the clear evidence, and what is the grade of the hadith that says:
The boldest of you in issuing fatwas is the boldest of you in entering the Fire
أجرؤكم على الفتيا أجرؤكم على النارA 5: Praise be to Allah alone, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, his family, and his Companions... And to proceed: The door of ijtihad in knowing the rulings of the Shari'ah remains open to whoever is qualified for it; by being knowledgeable of the verses and hadiths he needs in the issue in which he is exercising ijtihad, capable of understanding them and using them as evidence for what he seeks, knowledgeable of the grade of the hadiths he uses as evidence, and of the places of ijma' (scholarly consensus) in the issues he is researching; so that he does not deviate from the consensus of the Muslims in his ruling on them, and aware of the extent of the Arabic language that enables him to understand the texts; so that he can use them as evidence and derive rulings from them. It is not permissible for a person to speak in religion based on his opinion, or to issue fatwas to people without knowledge. Rather, he must
seek guidance from the Shari'ah evidence, then from the statements of the scholars and their consideration of the evidence, and their method of using it as evidence and deriving rulings from it, and then he speaks or issues a fatwa with what he is convinced of and accepts for himself as religion. As for the hadith:
The boldest of you in issuing fatwas is the boldest of you in entering the Fire
أجرؤكم على الفتيا أجرؤكم على النار
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.