Was there any ijtihaad at the time of the Prophet or did revelation come down for every single circumstance?

1. Ijtihad at the time of the Prophet
During our times, when confronted with various different issues which are not referred
to by the Quran and the Sunnah of the messenger of Allah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫,صلى‬ the scholars make
ijtihad in order to derive a ruling. This has been the case since the time of the Prophet
Muhammad ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ . The Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ was the first one to practice ijtihad
and the companions followed suit. Even though it is a fact that the companions of the Prophet
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ made ijtihad the scholars are divided into three groups:
a. The companions not being allowed to make ijtihad, weather in the presence or
absence of the messenger of Allah ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ .
b. The companions being allowed to make ijtihad during the Prophet’s absence and
with permission during his presence.
c. The companions being allowed to make ijtihad during the messenger’s absence and
presence, with and without permission.1
The first group (a), which is a minority, said that it was not permissible for the companions to do
ijtihad weather in the presence of the Prophet ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬‫وسل‬ or during his absence.2
They
believe that the companions would always be able to have access to the Prophet (saw) hence to
divine knowledge. They say, because of this reason, that why an individual would exercise their
own opinion which could be erroneous instead when they can go straight to divine guidance
which is always correct.3
But this opinion is baseless because the companions of the Prophet
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ were not confined to Medina, rather they were spread throughout the Arabian
Peninsula, Yemen, Bahrain, Najd, Tihamah, Yamamah, etc and at those times there were not any
means of rapid communication through which they could have a ruling from the Prophet ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫.عليه‬4
The second group (b) claim that the companions who were not in the presence of the Prophet
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ were allowed to make ijtihad as they didn’t have access to divine knowledge for
those particular instances. The scholars who held this opinion are Abu Abdullah Al Hanbali, Ibn
Aqeel and Abul Khattab.5
They say that waiting to get an answer from the Prophet ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
‫,وسلم‬ given the slow means of communication, would cause a lot of problems to arise between
people, hence they needed to exercise their own ijtihad. Al Badawi claimed the consensus of the
scholars that it was permissible for the companions who were not in the presence of the
Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ to make their own ijtihad.6
1
http://www.wimnet.org/articles/ijtihad1.htm
2
Al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid Muhammad bin Muhammad, al Mustafa vol. 2, p.354; al-Amidi, Sayf al-Din, al-Ikham vol. 3,
p.213 al-Asnawi, Jamal al-Din Abd al-Rahim, Nihayat al-sul fi Sharh Minhaj al-Wusul, vol.3 (Cairo, 1969/1389), p.197.
3
Al-Amidi, al-Ikham, vol. 3, p.214.
4
http://www.wimnet.org/articles/ijtihad1.htm
5
Ibid
6
Al-Baydawi, Abu Said Abdullah bin Umar, Minhaj al-Wusul, vol. 3, (Cairo, 1969/1389), p.196.

2. The Third group (c), the majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it was permissible for
the companions to make ijtihad weather they were in the vicinity of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
or they were far away from him with his permission or not.7
The scholars belonging to this group
include Muhammad ibn Hassan Ash Shaybani, Al Ghazali, Fakhr ud-Din ar Razi, al Baydawi and al
Amidi.8
The reason that some of the scholars claimed that it was not permissible for the companions of
the prophet; to practice ijtihad is because they didn’t see any need for ijtihad during that time.
Since the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ was alive and present during those times, the scholars
reasoned that the companions could refer back to revelation in order to confirm what should be
done. Also if no one could come up with a solution Allah could reveal the answer to their
problems.
Despite the fact that the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ was alive during those times and that
revelation was coming down on a regular basis, both the prophet and the companions practiced
ijtihad. Also it is implied in the Quran that ijtihad is actually encouraged in times of necessity.
Allah says in the Quran:
Contemplate, O you who are endowed with insight9
Also not only did the messenger of Allah ‫صلى‬‫هللا‬‫عليه‬‫وسلم‬ practice ijtihad but rather he also
encouraged his companions to do so as well. The Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ said: “Anyone who
exercises his personal reasoning and achieves the right, he will get two times the reward.
However if any mistake occurs in ijtihad, even then he will get one time the reward.”10
On
another occasion the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ asked ‘Amr Ibn Al As to judge between people
about a dispute. Amr replied: “How can I exercise my ijtihad while you are present?” The
Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ said: “Yes (do it), if you achieve the right then you will receive two
times the reward. Even if you make a mistake in your ijtihad, you will still receive one time the
reward.”11
Now that we have made it clear that ijtihad was done at the time of the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
by himself and his companions, in his presence and absence let us look at the reasons that they
did so. The Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ said: “I am only a human being. When a case is presented to
me, I might rule in favour of the party who presents his case in a better way, wrongly leading me
to think that he is right. In this case, if I gave someone something that in fact belongs to his
brother rather than himself, he should not accept it. For the thing that I gave him is nothing but
7
Al-Amidi, al-Ikham, vol. 3, p. 213.
8
Al-Baydawi, Minhaj al-Wusul, vol. 3, pp. 196-197; Muhibbullah bin Abd al-Shakur, Musallam al-Thabut, vol. 2
(Baghdad, 1970), p. 374.
9
Quran 59:2.
10
Al-Tirmizi, Muhammad bin Isa, al-Jami al-Sahih, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1964/1384), p. 393.
11
Al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid, al-Mustafa, vol. 2, p. 355.

3. a piece of fire.”12
This hadith indicates clearly that one of the reasons the Prophet ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ made ijtihad was to make his companions aware of the humanity of himself. He wanted his
companions to know that just like them he is a human being and has no divinity. By doing this
he wanted to make sure that they would not elevate him above what his merit is. This hadith
also indicates that the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ did not have the keys of the unseen;13
“therefore
he had to make decisions based on the apparent and circumstantial evidence presented to
him.”14
Another reason the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ made ijtihad is because it set a precedent for the
companions and the Muslims to come. This made it very clear the permissibility of making
ijtihad when there were no other divine sources which deal with those situations explicitly.15
This is also a reason why the Prophet ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ would ask his companions to make ijtihad
and then inform them if they were right or wrong. This in turn helped the companions
understand the principles of ijtihad and when it was supposed to be used. The prophet’s request
of them and his approval of them making ijtihad in his absence would ingrain those principles so
they could be passed down to future generations. This allowed future generations to deal with
completely new situations.
In conclusion, we can understand the permissibility of making ijtihad and also that it is a
fundamental aspect of the religion of Islam. It helps us to deal with new situations which arise
with the passage of time in different eras. Also we understand that because the Prophet ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ wanted the generations farther away to be able to handle new issues that he himself
practiced ijtihad. He also made the companions practice ijtihad in order to prepare them to
handle new situations which would arise after his death.
By: Abu Esa Kashif Godil
12
(Al-Bukhari, “Mazalim” 16, “Ahkam” 29, 31; Muslim, “Aqdiya” 5, 6).
13
http://www.lastprophet.info/the-question-of-prophet-muhammads-ijtihad-judgement.
14
Ibid.
15
http://www.islambasics.com/view.php?bkID=166&chapter=1

4. Bibliography
1. http://www.wimnet.org/articles/ijtihad1.htm
2. http://www.lastprophet.info/the-question-of-prophet-muhammads-ijtihad-judgement
3. http://www.islambasics.com/view.php?bkID=166&chapter=1