Taqrir al-Istinad fi Tafsir al-Ijtihad
- Author died
- 911 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Daʿwah
Taqrir al-Istinad fi Tafsir al-Ijtihad (Establishing the Reliance in Explaining Independent Legal Reasoning) is a treatise on legal theory (usul al-fiqh) by al-Jalal al-Suyuti (849–911 AH / 1445–1505 CE) dedicated to expounding the status, conditions, and continuous necessity of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) in Islamic law .
Background and Core Arguments
Al-Suyuti composed the work to address contemporary resistance to the attainment of ijtihad, refuting the belief that independent legal reasoning had ceased and answering accusations leveled against his own claim to juristic qualification . He begins by establishing that ijtihad is a communal obligation (fard kifayah), citing Muhammad al-Shahrastani and Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi to argue that while textual rulings in the Quran and Sunnah are finite, human occurrences and legal events are infinite, rendering continuous legal reasoning essential . Consequently, if the scholars of any age neglect this duty, the entire community incurs sin .
Al-Suyuti further argues that no era may be devoid of a mujtahid (la yajuz khuluww al-zaman 'an mujtahid), citing the position of the Hanbalis and Taqi al-Din Ibn Daqiq al-'Id . He supports this with prophetic reports, such as the hadith: لا تزال طائفة من أمتي ظاهرين على الحق حتى يأتي أمر الله ("A faction of my community will remain steadfast upon the truth until God's command comes"), and statements attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib, Umar ibn al-Khattab, and Mu'adh ibn Jabal . He also draws upon views from Muhibb al-Din (the father of Ibn Daqiq al-'Id), al-Nawawi, and Abu Talib al-Makki .
Conditions of Ijtihad
The treatise surveys the qualifications of a mujtahid defined by classical scholars, including al-Shahrastani, al-Rafi'i, al-Nawawi, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Abu Mansur Abd al-Qahir al-Tamimi, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Ibn al-Salah, and Taqi al-Din al-Subki . Al-Suyuti consolidates these qualifications into fifteen disciplines and explains how his own literary output met those prerequisites:
- Sciences of the Quran, covering revelation contexts, abrogation, and legal deduction, which he treated in works such as al-Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an and al-Iklil fi Istinbat al-Tanzil .
- Sciences of Hadith, spanning transmission, grading, and hadith criticism .
- Principles of Jurisprudence (Usul al-Fiqh), including methods of deduction and resolving conflicting evidence .
- Arabic Lexicography, referring to authoritative dictionaries .
- Contextual Meanings (al-Ma'ani al-Mafhuma min al-Siyaq) . 6–7. Grammar and Morphology . 8–10. Rhetoric, comprising ma'ani, bayan, and badi' .
- Consensus (Ijma') and Scholarly Disagreements (Khilaf) .
- Arithmetic (Hisab), necessary for complex estate division and inheritances .
- Innate Juristic Acumen (Fiqh al-Nafs) .
- Legal Maxims (Qawa'id al-Shar') .
- Ethics and Spiritual Purification of Hearts .
Al-Suyuti explicitly excludes scholastic theology (kalam) and formal Greek logic (mantiq) from the requisite conditions, observing that the early mujtahids lived long before logic was translated into Arabic during the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun .
Historical Continuity and Defense
Al-Suyuti refutes the claim that ijtihad had ceased two centuries prior by enumerating prominent scholars who attained independent deduction or exercised preference (ikhtiyar) outside school doctrines, such as 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, Abu Shamah, al-Nawawi, Ibn al-Munayyir, Ibn Daqiq al-'Id, Ibn Taymiyyah, Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Siraj al-Din al-Bulqini, Jalal al-Din al-Bulqini, Wali al-Din al-'Iraqi, Majd al-Din al-Shirazi, Kamal al-Din ibn al-Humam, and his own teacher Sharaf al-Din al-Munawi . He also links the recurring appearance of mujtahids to the hadith of the centennial reviver (mujaddid) .
He clarifies that announcing one's attainment of ijtihad falls under the religious obligation to proclaim divine favor (al-tahadduth bi-ni'mat Allah), citing the Quranic verse وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ ("And as for the favor of your Lord, report [it]") . He responds to his critics' accusations that he intended to establish a "fifth school" (madhhab khamis), dismissing such charges as distortions meant to stir popular sentiment .
Print Editions
The work was edited by Fu'ad 'Abd al-Mun'im Ahmad and published by Dar al-Da'wah in Alexandria in 1403 AH / 1983 CE .
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