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Ijtihad and Fatwa

Course Description: This course establishes the scientific knowledge of issues in ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) and fatwas (legal rulings), their scopes, and their methodologies. It also focuses on developing the aptitude for ijtihad and fatwas, and training students on how to deal with contemporary events and issues according to the principles of ijtihad.

Credit hours: 3

Objectives of the course :

1. Introduce the student to the issues of ijtihad and fatwas, their domains, and their methods. .
2- Fostering jurisprudential and ijtihadic queenship in the student. .
3. Training students on how to deal with contemporary challenges according to the rules of ijtihad. .
4. Introducing the student to contemporary curricula regarding renewal in Usul al-Fiqh. .
5 – Training the student to read original texts, interpret their phrases, and analyze them. .

Course outputs :

Knowledge and understanding:
To clarify the jurisprudential terms and their developments in ijtihad and fatwa.
2- To explain the issues of ijtihad and fatwa, their controls, and their impact on jurisprudential rulings.
Skills:
1- To compare the jurists' methodologies in ijtihad and fatwa.
2. That the legal ruling be favored based on the analysis of jurisprudential texts.
3. To write a comparative jurisprudential research paper using scientific research methodology and modern technology.
Values, Independence, and Responsibility
1- Demonstrate Islamic principles and values in jurisprudential disagreement and dialog with others.
2- Practicing and managing teamwork efficiently and effectively.

Additional information:

Course Topics :
First: Ijtihad and Fatwa:
Ijtihad: Its Reality, Pillars, Conditions, Types, Fragmentation of Ijtihad, Renewal of Ijtihad, Types of Ijtihad, Methodology of Ijtihad in Calamities, Qiyas and its Role in Ijtihad.
Fatwa: Its reality, the description of the mufti, his rulings, manners, and conditions, methodologies of fatwas, changing fatwas, legal innovation, means of fatwas, pitfalls of fatwas, controls of fatwas (verifying the reason for the ruling, considering the objectives of Sharia, considering consequences, understanding reality, considering customs), following dispensations, considering differences of opinion, the position of the questioner regarding conflicting fatwas.
Second: Methodological Rulings:
Renewal in Usul al-Fiqh (Its Concept – Its Schools – Presentation and Criticism of its Foremost Ideas).
Reading the text and the philosophical school and its position on the text. .
The problematic nature of terminology, its change, and its impact on rulings and fatwas. .
The methodology of combining the objectives of Sharia with texts in the study of jurisprudential issues (with a study of the methodologies of the Zahiris, the majority, and contemporary intellectual schools in reconciling the objectives of Sharia with texts).
Third: The Methodology of Deduction: (An Analytical Reading of Selected Texts from Usul Sources):
The course instructor selects one book from each of the following groups to be the subject of analytical reading:
Group One: Hanafi Books which are:
1 - The Chapters in the Sources by Abu Bakr Ahmad bin Ali Al-Jassas. .
2 - Kashf al-asrar (Unveiling Secrets) by Abu al-Barakat Abd Allah ibn Ahmad al-Nasafi. .
Group Two: Maliki Books, which are:
1 – Al-Taqrīb wa-l-Irshād by Abū Bakr Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Qāsim al-Bāqillānī. .
2 – Iḥkām al-Fuṣūl by Sulaymān ibn Khalaf ibn Saʿd ibn Ayyūb ibn Wārith al-Tujībī al-Bājī. .
3 – Explanation of the Revision of Chapters by Ahmad ibn Idris al-Qarafi. .
4 - The Approvals of Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi al-Garnati al-Maliki. .
Group Three: Shafi'i Books, which are:
1 – The Message to Imam Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i. .
2 – Qawati' al-Adilla by Mansur bin Muhammad bin Abd al-Jabbar al-Sam'ani al-Shafi'i. .
3 - The Harvest of Fakhr al-Din Muhammad ibn Umar ibn al-Husayn al-Razi. .
Group Four: Hanbali Books, which are:
1 – The "Al-'Uddah" by Judge Abu Ya'la, Muhammad ibn Al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Khalaf ibn Al-Farra. .
2 – Rawdat an-Nadhir by Abu Abdullah Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi. .
3 – Explanation of the Luminous Planet by Taqi al-Din Ibn al-Najjar al-Hanbali.
Group Five: Fatwas of Scientific and Jurisprudential Bodies and Councils
1 - Fatwas of the Council of Senior Scholars (Fatwas of the Permanent Committee)
2 – Fatawa of the Fiqh Council. .
3 – Fatwas of the Egyptian Dar Al-Ifta. .

Last updated: 2026-06-03