Faqih, Mujtahid, and Ijtihad
Read the bilingual lesson for Faqih, Mujtahid, and Ijtihad and test your understanding with a focused quiz.
Lesson
1. Who Is a Faqih?
A Faqih is a qualified scholar with deep and disciplined knowledge of Fiqh. A Faqih understands practical Shari'ah rulings and juristic issues with scholarly responsibility.
A person does not automatically become a Faqih merely by reading some religious material.
2. Who Is a Mujtahid?
A Mujtahid is a qualified and trained scholar capable of Ijtihad on the basis of the legal sources and related disciplines.
Being a Mujtahid is not merely a title; it requires strong qualification and training in the relevant disciplines.
3. What Is Ijtihad?
Ijtihad is the full scholarly effort of a qualified and trained Mujtahid to ascertain a Shari'ah ruling. The Mujtahid works methodically with recognized sources and relevant disciplines; Ijtihad is not merely personal opinion, a quick guess, or a preferred choice.
For example, choosing a preferred answer to a new question is not Ijtihad; scholarly qualification, sources, and disciplined effort make the essential difference.
4. Person and Scholarly Activity
Faqih and Mujtahid name scholarly roles, while Ijtihad is a specific scholarly activity. A person may be called a Mujtahid, and that person's disciplined scholarly activity is called Ijtihad; the two words do not mean the same thing.
Faqih emphasizes deep knowledge of Fiqh, while Mujtahid emphasizes qualification for Ijtihad. Scholarly qualification is central to both terms.
Practice questions
Question 1
Match each term to its correct description.
Question 2
Which statement about Ijtihad is correct?
- It is anyone's quick personal opinion
- It is a qualified Mujtahid's disciplined scholarly effort to ascertain a Shari'ah ruling
- It is merely memorizing seven legal labels
Question 3
Which term names a scholarly activity rather than a person?
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