Mujtahid

A mujtahid ( Arabic مجتهد, DMG muǧtahid ) is an Islamic legal scholar who has the ability to independently form judgments, for ijtihād . In the Twelve Schia this qualification is acquired within the Hawza training. A mujtahid who gathers muqallidūn can attain the rank of ayatollah here . The term is not to be confused with the similarly sounding term mujāhid , which describes the person who practices jihad .

A mujahid has extensive knowledge of:

• the intricacies of the Arabic language ,
• the Koran and the Sunna ,
• Islamic law as well
• the Usūl al-fiqh .

Within Islamic legal theory there is the principle that every mujtahid is right (kull muǧtahid muṣīb) . The validity and scope of this principle are, however, controversial.

literature

• J. Calmard: Art. "Mu dj tahid" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. VII, pp. 295b-304a.
• Gökhan Çetinsaya: “The Caliph and Mujtahids: Ottoman Policy towards the Shiite Community of Iraq in the Late Nineteenth Century” in Middle Eastern Studies 41 (2005), 561-574.
• Éric Chaumont: "'Tout chercheur qualifié dit-il Juste ( Hal kull muǧtahid muṣīb )? La question controversée du fondement de la légitimité de la controverse en Islam" in A. Le Boulluec (éd.): La controverse religieuse et ses formes . Cerf, Paris, 1995. pp. 11-27.