Aqd al-Jid fi Ahkam al-Ijtihad wa al-Taqlid
- Author died
- 1176 AH
- Editions
- Al-Matba'ah al-Salafiyyah
Aqd al-Jid fi Ahkam al-Ijtihad wa al-Taqlid (The Splendid Necklace on the Rulings of Independent Reasoning and Emulation) is a treatise on legal theory (usul al-fiqh) by the Indian Hanafi scholar and hadith specialist Wali Allah al-Dahlawi (1110–1176 AH / 1699–1762 CE) .
Background and Purpose
The author, Ahmad ibn Abd al-Rahim al-Dahlawi, stated in his introduction that he composed the treatise in response to questions posed by some of his companions regarding essential issues concerning legal reasoning (ijtihad) and emulation (taqlid) .
Structure and Content
The treatise examines the definitions, prerequisites, levels, and practical rulings of ijtihad and taqlid:
- Definition and Conditions of Ijtihad: Al-Dahlawi defines ijtihad as expending full effort to derive subsidiary legal rulings from their detailed proofs—categorized under the Quran, the Sunnah, consensus (ijma'), and analogical reasoning (qiyas) . He critiques the notion that a scholar who largely agrees with his teacher while understanding the proofs with certainty is not a mujtahid, and he rejects the premise that qualified mujtahids cannot exist in later eras . He outlines the necessary qualifications, noting that a jurist must grasp the primary legal texts of the Quran and Sunnah, the conventions of the Arabic language relevant to legal speech, and the major rulings of the Companions, Successors, and leading jurists .
- Ranks of Jurists: Drawing on earlier authorities such as al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi, the work classifies the absolute mujtahid (al-mujtahid al-mutlaq) into independent (mustaqill) and affiliated (muntasib), followed by the mujtahid within an established legal school (mujtahid fi al-madhhab) and the mujtahid of legal verdicts (mujtahid al-futya) .
- Disagreement and Rectitude: The work discusses the differing theological and legal stances on whether every mujtahid is correct in matters of probabilistic legal reasoning or only one attains the correct answer, analyzing statements attributed to Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, al-Shafi'i, al-Baydawi, and others .
- Classification of Juristic Issues: Al-Dahlawi delineates legal issues into four categories within the tradition: foundational positions transmitted as zahir al-madhhab, anomalous narrations (riwaya shadhdha) accepted only when conforming to principles, inferences derived by later jurists (takhrij al-muta'akhkhirin), and questions left to ongoing derivation .
Publication
Aqd al-Jid has been printed in various editions, including in Cairo by Matba'at Sharikat al-Matbu'at (1327 AH) alongside al-Dahlawi's al-Insaf fi Asbab al-Ikhtilaf, and at al-Matba'a al-Salafiyya supervised by Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib (1385 AH) .
Answer updated