The Application of Ijtihad in Rijāl Science through the Ijtihadī and Taqlīdī Approaches

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Mahdi Zerehsaz ¹

Hasan Naghizadeh ²

¹ Ph.D. Student, Department of Quran and Hadith Studies, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

² Professor, Department of Quran and Hadith Studies, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.

10.22067/jquran.2024.83121.1559

Abstract

The science of Rijāl, as a branch of Islamic sciences, is concerned with identifying hadith narrators’ identity and status. It has a special position in validating āḥād narrations and can be considered a fundamental prerequisite for attaining the faculty of Ijtihad (independent reasoning). This paper aims to examine the possibility of applying Ijtihad in the science of Rijāl and compare the scope of Ijtihad application through two approaches: Ijtihadī and Taqlīdī (imitative). The method of this paper is descriptive-analytical. The findings show that Ijtihad is indispensable in both approaches. However, in the Taqlīdī approach, it is limited to the efforts made for discovering the opinion of earlier Rijāl scholars regarding the narrators, whereas in the Ijtihadī approach, Ijtihad has a broader scope and the process of “Jarḥ and Taʿdīl” (criticism) of narrators is done without following the earlier Rijāl scholars’ views and by using all available indications and evidence. In any case, the presence of the Ijtihad element in the science of Rijāl is an undeniable necessity.

Keywords

Rijāl science

Ijtihad

Ijtihadī approach

Taqlīdī approach

Subjects

• Quran and Hadith Studies

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