Ijtihad, Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ra'y

Ijtihad, Its Meaning, Sources, Beginnings and the Practice of Ra'y

The sources of ijtihad according to Shi'ah and the Ahl al-Sunnah, put together, are: the Book, the Sunnah, ijma` (consensus), `aql (reason), qiyas (analogy), istihsan, masalih mursalah, istislah, sadd al-dhara'i`, fath al-dhara'i; madhhab al-sahabi, shari`at al-salaf, `urf, istidlal, and so on. In this series of articles it is tried to discuss and study these topics in detail from the Shi`i and the Sunni points of view.