An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Muslim countries were occupied by Western powers that came across the local Muslim culture and traditions. The Muslim world at that time was thrown into great crisis caused by the conflict between conservatism and modernism. The conservatives became rigid i...

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Main Author:	Abdul Rahim, Adibah
Format:	Article
Language:	English English
Published:	National University Malaysia (UKM) 2014
Subjects:	BL Religion
Online Access:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/5/ACCEPTANCE_LETTER_FOR_ISLAMIYYAT.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/1/ARTICLE_ISLAMIYYAT%5B2%5D.pdf

id	iium-33987
recordtype	eprints
spelling	iium-339872018-06-20T08:34:54Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/ An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad Abdul Rahim, Adibah BL Religion In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Muslim countries were occupied by Western powers that came across the local Muslim culture and traditions. The Muslim world at that time was thrown into great crisis caused by the conflict between conservatism and modernism. The conservatives became rigid in their outlook and approach. They concluded that the only way to save Islamic law and culture, and Muslim society in the conflict of the West was to stick to the past and guard the old establishment. This is called taqlid or blind imitation. Meanwhile, the modernists confined themselves to the imitation of the West, and argued for the adoption of Western civilization, so that Muslim could emerge as a progressive nation. While the conservatives stood for rigid adherence to fiqh, the modernists wanted to change the entire law in the light of Western codes of law. Iqbal argued that neither conservatism nor modernism were good. According to him, the conservatives’ approach was unrealistic because it rejects the ontological principle of change; i.e due to a process of continuous change of life, new situations arise and new problems occur. Meanwhile, the modernists’ approach is unrealistic because it has often ended up in the garb of westernization rather than modernization. Iqbal took a balance approach between conservatism and modernism whereby he acknowledged conservatives’ approach which firmly anchored in the Muslim heritage, and the modernists’ approach which tailored to meet the challenge of modern times to maintain the dynamic character of Islam. In his synthetic approach, Iqbal tried to reinterpret the whole development of Islamic thought through the principle of ijtihad, and stressed its dynamic element in it rather than static. For Iqbal, ijtihad was the only way to rescue Muslims from the stagnation of thought which had deprived them of religious, social, economic, educational, legal, and political ascendency in the world. This paper attempts at analyzing Iqbal’s constructive approach to the principle of ijtihad, and its significance to contemporary Islam. National University Malaysia (UKM) 2014-01 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/5/ACCEPTANCE_LETTER_FOR_ISLAMIYYAT.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/1/ARTICLE_ISLAMIYYAT%5B2%5D.pdf Abdul Rahim, Adibah (2014) An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad. Jurnal Islamiyyat, 36. ISSN 0216-5636 (In Press)
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	International Islamic University Malaysia
building	IIUM Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English English
topic	BL Religion
spellingShingle	BL Religion Abdul Rahim, Adibah An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
description	In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Muslim countries were occupied by Western powers that came across the local Muslim culture and traditions. The Muslim world at that time was thrown into great crisis caused by the conflict between conservatism and modernism. The conservatives became rigid in their outlook and approach. They concluded that the only way to save Islamic law and culture, and Muslim society in the conflict of the West was to stick to the past and guard the old establishment. This is called taqlid or blind imitation. Meanwhile, the modernists confined themselves to the imitation of the West, and argued for the adoption of Western civilization, so that Muslim could emerge as a progressive nation. While the conservatives stood for rigid adherence to fiqh, the modernists wanted to change the entire law in the light of Western codes of law. Iqbal argued that neither conservatism nor modernism were good. According to him, the conservatives’ approach was unrealistic because it rejects the ontological principle of change; i.e due to a process of continuous change of life, new situations arise and new problems occur. Meanwhile, the modernists’ approach is unrealistic because it has often ended up in the garb of westernization rather than modernization. Iqbal took a balance approach between conservatism and modernism whereby he acknowledged conservatives’ approach which firmly anchored in the Muslim heritage, and the modernists’ approach which tailored to meet the challenge of modern times to maintain the dynamic character of Islam. In his synthetic approach, Iqbal tried to reinterpret the whole development of Islamic thought through the principle of ijtihad, and stressed its dynamic element in it rather than static. For Iqbal, ijtihad was the only way to rescue Muslims from the stagnation of thought which had deprived them of religious, social, economic, educational, legal, and political ascendency in the world. This paper attempts at analyzing Iqbal’s constructive approach to the principle of ijtihad, and its significance to contemporary Islam.
format	Article
author	Abdul Rahim, Adibah
author_facet	Abdul Rahim, Adibah
author_sort	Abdul Rahim, Adibah
title	An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
title_short	An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
title_full	An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
title_fullStr	An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
title_full_unstemmed	An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad
title_sort	analytical assessment of muhammad iqbal's framework of ijtihad
publisher	National University Malaysia (UKM)
publishDate	2014
url	http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/5/ACCEPTANCE_LETTER_FOR_ISLAMIYYAT.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/33987/1/ARTICLE_ISLAMIYYAT%5B2%5D.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T20:49:04Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T20:49:04Z
_version_	1777409871882223616

An Analytical Assessment of Muhammad Iqbal's Framework of Ijtihad

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