Ijtihad: Deduction

What is ijtihad? It is deduction. Deduction. You have to deduce in the affairs. So this is everybody’s job. Not only scholars’ job. Scholars can give you an idea but you are responsible for your actions so you have to do your own deduction. If everybody did their own deduction, then we would not be in the mess that we are in now.

Madhhab, School of thought

The scholars, who are they? They call them “Madhhab“. What are they? They are Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi’i, Maliki; and Jafari is also a Madhhab, but some say, “Alawi, Shia.” Shia is following another Madhhab, he is a descendant of the Prophet (peace be upon him), one of the Imams, which some of the Sunnis do not want to recognize.

But anyway, anybody is entitled to their opinion and some people follow that and others do not. You have to follow your own deductions. Actually, all Arabs follow their own deductions, in truth because they think they are Allah’s gift to humanity, and they know Islam better than anybody else. And that may be so, I do not know, but Allah knows best.

For unity

And then here comes the point that I want to make. Those scholars, especially Imam Shafi’i and Imam Hanafi, this is the point I am trying to get to: Imam Shafi’i, when he was praying behind Imam Hanafi, he would do the same as Imam Hanafi. Now this is the part. Those people who are truly scholars, I mean, they were honest. Because, like I do Zikr, some people have another Shaykh, and I do the movement of “La ilaha illallah” like this, they do something different than that; if I go like this, they do something different. When you are following an Imam, you have to do the same. Why? For unity.

That is the problem with all of us, especially the Islamic world. We do not have the unity because everybody thinks they are the boss, they are the source of knowledge and their way is the way because that is how they learned from their parents. But Allah makes reference in the Qur’ani Karim to, “What if your parents were wrong…”

To understand Allah you have to have an open mind.

Qur’an References

And when it is said to them, “Come (and accept) what Allah has sent down to the Messenger,” they reply, “What we found our parents doing is good enough for us.” What! (You do this) even though your parents did not know anything, nor were they guided? (Al Ma’ida:104)

And We have urged humans to be kind to parents, but if they try to force you to attribute partners to Me, for which there is no evidence, do not obey them. And to Me is your return, and I will tell you all about what you used to do. (Al Ankabut:8)

There is no compulsion in din [way of life]. Surely, the sensible, mature path is distinct from the sinful path. So whoever disbelieves in taghut [false objects of worship] and believes in Allah has indeed held the firmest grip that will never break. Allah is Sami [Hearing; Listening] and Alim [All-Knowing]. (Al Baqara:256)

This is an edited excerpt of the Online Saturday Sohbet given on January 7, 2012 by Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari and published on sufiview.com on November 29, 2021. The translation of the Qur’an verses are also from Murshid Shaykh Taner Vargonen Ansari.

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