Word: ijtihad
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...call for a resurrection of ijtihad - the Islamic legal tradition of critical thinking - is a yearning for a return to the progressive origins of her religion. Were she alive at the time of publication, this alone would have seen her charged with blasphemy in fundamentalist circles, but if ever the Koran's message of tolerance bears repeating, it is now. Bhutto's criticism of Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilizations" theory is also pertinent. Huntington posited, in a 1993 essay in the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations magazine Foreign Affairs, that conflict between Islam and the West was inevitable. Bhutto...
...call for a resurrection of ijtihad - the early tradition of challenge and inquiry that demanded a re-interpretation of the Koran relevant to the current era - is bold. Were she alive at the time of publication, she most certainly would have been charged with blasphemy by fundamentalist circles. Bhutto offers no new revelations - any close scholar of modern Islam will have made the same observations. But her reiteration of the Koran's message of peace and tolerance bears repeating; it is one that is often drowned out by the more headline-grabbing missives of those calling for death to America...
Sistani excelled in Najaf and soon became a disciple of Grand Ayatullah Abul Qassim al-Khoei. At the unusually young age of 31, Sistani reached the senior level of accomplishment called ijtihad, which entitled him to pass his own judgments on religious questions. Sistani kept his distance from Khomeini, who was then in exile in Najaf and already honing his militant philosophy of temporal clerical rule. Al-Khoei, Sistani's mentor, preached the "quietist" approach, in which religious leaders address matters of spirituality and behavior but stay out of politics. Sistani embraced that philosophy...
Those of us pushing for reforms are not seeking to change Islam. We are questioning defective doctrine from an intellectual and theological position, using the Koran, the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and ijtihad, or critical reasoning, as ideological weapons in the war over how Muslim communities define themselves. Islamic scholar Amina Wadud notes that we are emboldened to take public action to reject the way extremists have defined Islam since 9/11. We are in the midst of jihad li tajdid al-ruh al-Islami, a struggle for the soul of Islam...
...decay the seeds of rebirth took root. As early as 1744 the fierce Wahhabi movement began preaching the need for a strict return to Islamic practice, and its doctrine slowly spread through the lands of the faith. Sharply countering Moslem fatalism, the 19th century philosopher Al Afghani preached ijtihad (self-exertion), urging Islam to adapt to the currents of change in the modern world. India's Ahmadiyya movement helped revive Islam's long-dormant lust for converts. Twentieth century nationalism gradually brought independence, and a new spirit of confidence, to Islamic countries of Africa and Asia...