What is ijtihad, and why did Iqbal call it the principle of movement in Islam?

Question

In court I know ijtihad in its narrow legal sense: independent reasoning by a qualified jurist to derive a ruling where texts are silent or unclear. But Iqbal, in the sixth lecture of the Reconstruction, "The Principle of Movement in the Structure of Islam", makes it something much broader, almost a philosophy of history.
Could someone explain the classical background and what exactly Iqbal does with it? In particular, what did he propose about who should exercise ijtihad today?

Layla Haddad · Accepted Answer

Classically, ijtihad is the jurist's exertion of effort to derive rulings from the sources, the Qur'an and Sunna, using methods such as analogy (qiyas). The jurist who can do it, the mujtahid, had to meet demanding conditions of learning.
From roughly the later medieval period, many said the "gate of ijtihad" had closed, meaning jurists should follow the established schools (taqlid). Wael Hallaq's 1984 article "Was the Gate of Ijtihad Closed?" argued that in practice it never fully was.
Iqbal's move is to treat ijtihad as the principle that keeps Islam open to change. For him, a religion that stops reinterpreting itself in the light of new conditions has stopped being alive.
His most radical proposal: given the complexity of modern life, the authority of ijtihad should pass from individual jurists to elected legislative assemblies, a modern form of consensus (ijma'). He cited the Turkish Grand National Assembly as an example, while disagreeing with some of its decisions.

Youssef Benali · Answer

Morocco's 2004 reform of the family code, the Mudawwana, was officially framed as an act of ijtihad, with the king presenting it as a reading of Islamic law in the light of justice and equality. It's a real example of Iqbal's idea, though the "assembly" in that case was only part of the process.

Hamza Qureshi · Answer

Excellent, thank you, Layla. The assembly proposal is what I needed. Iqbal saw parliament as continuing the work of the jurists, which is a much bolder idea than anyone in my profession usually gives him credit for.

What is ijtihad, and why did Iqbal call it the principle of movement in Islam?

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