اجتہاد کے دائرہ کار میں مستشرقین کے افکار کا تنقیدی جائزہ

A Critical Evaluation of the Thoughts of the Orientalists in the Scope of Ijtihad

Abstract

This paper presents a critical evaluation of Orientalist perspectives on ijtihad within the broader framework of Islamic legal thought. It compares and contrasts the understanding of ijtihad as interpreted by Orientalist scholars with that of traditional Muslim jurists, grounding the analysis in the Qur'an, Sunnah, and classical jurisprudential sources. The concept of ijtihad, defined as the exertion of intellectual effort to derive legal rulings in situations not explicitly addressed in primary texts, is examined as both a dynamic mechanism within Islamic law and a point of contention between Western and Islamic scholarly traditions. Notably, the study engages with the work of Joseph Schacht, who identified ijtihad as a central element in the historical development of Islamic jurisprudence. Through this comparative lens, the paper aims to highlight both the contributions and the shortcomings of Orientalist approaches to the study of Islamic legal theory.