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The need for Ijtihad in every age

Allah (swt) addressed the whole of mankind through the Prophethood of our master Muhammad (saw). He (swt) said: “Say (O Muhammad (saw)): “O mankind! Verily I am sent to you all as the Messenger of Allah…”’ [TMQ 7:158] And He (swt) said: “O mankind! Verily, there has come to you a convincing proof (Muhammad [saw]) from your Lord” [TMQ 4:174] And He (swt) said: “O mankind! Verily, there has come to you the Messenger (Muhammad [saw]) with the truth from your Lord.” [TMQ 4:170] And He (swt) addressed the people and the Muslims with the Ahkam of Islam. He (swt) said: “O mankind! Fear your Lord and be dutiful to Him! Verily, the earthquake of the Hour (of judgment) is a terrible thing.” [TMQ 22:1] He (swt) said: “O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person...” [TMQ 4:1] He (swt) said: “O you who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you…” [TMQ 9:123] And He (swt) said: “O you who believe! Approach n

The dangers of dismissing people

Allah (swt) emphasised thinking well of the believers when He (swt) said: “Why then, did not the believers, men and women, then you heard it (the slander) think good of their own people.” [TMQ an-Noor: 12] Furthermore Abu Hurayrah (ra) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “If a man says the people have perished then he has destroyed them.” We must realise the importance of realising the goodness amongst the Muslims, for if we didn't see it would lead us to dismissing the Ummah resulting in the failure of the Da'wa and the negligence in the obligation. It would lead to us becoming disheartened souls with a minuscule vision. We would give up in achieving the victory even though the victory may be closer than we possibly imagined. The life of the Da'wa would be removed from us and we would become empty vessels revolving around ourselves. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to realise the reality of the goodness within the Ummah and the reality of people in general. A

Understanding Illah (legal reason) and Qiyas (analogy)

Due to the intellectual decline that has affected Muslims throughout the last few centuries many concepts of Usul ul Fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) have become vague in the minds of some and misconceptions have creped in. Regarding the important subject of Qiyas the following are some of the key misconceptions that exist today: a) Qiyas has no evidence for it and therefore is not a source of Shari’ah. b) Qiyas is a human endeavor, it is only a personal reasoning and therefore the outcome of it isn’t a shari’ah rule. c) Qiyas can be applied on everything. d) The Illah (reason) behind a rule can be from the mind and doesn’t have to be in the shari’ah texts. e) Customs and traditions can be the Illah for some rules. f) Material benefit is the Illah for all the shari’ah rules. g) There is no difference between the hikmah (wisdom) behind a rule and the Illah. h) Applying a known shari’ah rule to a situation is the same as Qiyas. Although the subject may sound complex to some