A Mujtahid is an Islamic scholar, competent independently to interpret divine law in practical situations using Ijtihad, or independent thought. In some, but not all, Islamic traditions, a Mujtahid can specialise in a branch of Sharia - economic or family law for example. Islam (Arabic: ; ( ▶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Umma was an ancient city in Sumer. ... Sharia (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( ▶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Sharia (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ...

The qualifications for a mujtahid were set out by Abu’l Husayn al-Basri (died 467 AH / 1083 CE ) in “al Mu’tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh” and accepted by later Sunni scholars, including al-Ghazali. These qualifications can be summed up as (i) an understanding of the objectives of the Sharia and (ii) a knowledge of its sources and methods of deduction. They include The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar (also called Hijri calendar, Arabic التقويم الهجري) is the calendar used to date events in many predominantly Muslim countries, and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days. ... CE is an abbreviation which can have the following meanings: Capillary electrophoresis the CE mark is a stylized CE placed on products to signify conformance with European Union regulations. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (born 1058 in Tus, Khorasan province of Persia, modern day Iran, died 1111, Tus) was a Persian Muslim theologian and philosopher, known as Algazel to the western medieval world. ... Sharia (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ...

• a competence in the Arabic language which allows him to have a correct understanding of the Koran . That is, he must appreciate the subtlties of the language so as to be able to draw accurate deductions from the “clear and un-crooked Arabic” of this infallible source, and that of the Sunnah .
• an adequate knowledge of the Meccan and Medinese contents of the Koran, the events surrounding their revelation and the incidences of abrogation (suspendng or repealing a ruling) revealed therein. He must be fully acquainted with its legal contents (the “ayat al-ahkam”) - some 500 verses, according to al-Ghazali. He need not have a detailed knowledge the narratives and parables, nor of the sections relating to the hereafter, but he must be able to use these to infer a legal rule. He needs to acquainted with all the classical commentaries on the “ayat al-ahkam”, especially the views of the Companions of the Prophet .
• an adequate knowledge of the Sunnah, especially those related to his specialisation. He needs to know the relative reliability of the narrators of the [Hadith], and be able to distinguish between the reliable from the weak. He needs to have a thorough knowledge of incidences of abrogation, distinguish between the general and specific, the absolute and the qualified. One estimate (by Ahmad ibn Hanbal ) suggests that 1,200 hadith need to be known.
• he should be able to verifiy the consensus ijma of the Companions of the Prophet, the Successors and the leading Imams and Mujtahidim of the past, especially with regard to his specialisation. Complementary to this, he should be familiar with the issues on which there is no consensus.
• he should have a thorough knowledge of the the rules and procedures for reasoning by analogy (qiyas) so he can apply revealed law to an unprecedented case.
• he should understand the revealed purposes of Sharia, which relate to considerations of public interest, including the Five Pillars protection of life, religion, intellect, lineage and property. He should also understand the general maxims for the interpretation of Sharia, which include the removal of hardship, that certainty must prevail over doubt, and the achievement of a balance between unnecessary rigidity and a too free an interpretation.
• he must practice what he preaches, that is he must be an upright person whose judgement people can trust

Some Islamic traditions consider that these high conditions cannot be met by anyone nowadays, while for others - especially the Shi’ite tradition - they are met in every generation. Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Mecca IPA: or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukarramah; Arabic: ‎, Turkish: Mekke) is the capital city of Saudi Arabias Makkah province, in the historic Hijaz region. ... Medina (Arabic: ‎ or المدينة ; also transliterated into English as Madinah) is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. ... The Quran (Arabic: al-qurān literally the recitation; also called Al Qurān Al KarÄ«m or The Noble Quran; or transliterated Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Abrogation is a technical term used with reference to the validity of verses of the Quran. ... Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali (born 1058 in Tus, Khorasan province of Persia, modern day Iran, died 1111, Tus) was a Persian Muslim theologian and philosopher, known as Algazel to the western medieval world. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Abrogation is a technical term used with reference to the validity of verses of the Quran. ... Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal (Arabic: ‏‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎أحمد بن حنبل‏‎‎‎‏‎‎‎ ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ Ahmad bin Hanbal ) (780 [164 AH] - 855 [241 AH] ) was an important Muslim scholar and theologian. ... Hadith (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) are traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. ... Ijmāʿ (إجماع) is an Arabic tern referring to the consensus of the ummah, the community of Muslims, those practicing Islam, or of the ulema, those learned in the relevant topic. ... Imam (Arabic: إمام ,Persian: امام ) is an Arabic word meaning Leader. The ruler of a country might be called the Imam, for example. ... ijtihad is a technical term of the Islamic law and means the process of making a legal decision by independent interpretation of the sources of the law, the Quran and the Sunna. ... In Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, Qiyas is the process of analogical reasoning from a known injunction (nass) to a new injunction. ... Sharia (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ... This seems unusual, to direct people to a place called five pillars and then arrive and find no one has been here. ... Sharia (Arabic: ‎ translit: ) refers to the body of Islamic law. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ...

References

• Glassé, Cyril, The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, Stacey International, London (1991) ISBN 0-905743-65-2
• Goldziher, Ignaz (translated by A And R Hamori), Introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, Princeton University Press, Princeton New Jersey (1981) ISBN 0-691-10099-3
• Kamali, Mohammad Hashim Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, Islamic Text Society, Cambridge (1991) ISBN 0-946621-24-1