Ijtihad was not needed during the time of Rasulullah (ﷺ) because he received confirmation from divine revelation of Allah SWT. All the laws were revealed by Allah in the form of Quran and Sunnah. Allah said, “Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord (the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah), and follow not, the auliya’ other than Him…” (Qur’an, Al-A’raf 7:3) From Tafseer Ibn Kathir, it can be found that “Follow what has been sent down unto you from your Lord” means to follow and imitate the unlettered Prophet, who brought you a Book that was revealed for you from the Lord. Also, “and follow not any Auliya’, besides Him” means do not disregard what the Messenger brought you and follow something else, for in this case, you will be deviating from Allah's judgment to the decision of someone else. (Tafseer Ibn Kathir, 7:3) Hence, these were regarded as the only source of Shariah at that time.
Throughout Rasulullah’s lifetime, Allah taught him in making decisions based on the revealed revelations by Allah. Allah said, “And verily, you (O Muhammad (ﷺ)) are being taught the Quran from the One, All-Wise, All-Knowing.”(Qur’an, An-Naml, 27:6) He didn’t simply say anything out of his own will or desire as Allah said, “Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is only a Revelation revealed.”(Qur’an, An-Najm, 53:3-4)
Allah has commanded us to refer to Allah and Rasulullah (ﷺ) for judgement in disputes. Allah said, “O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad (ﷺ)), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger (ﷺ), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day...”(Qur’an, An-Nisa’, 4:59) Allah also said, “But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad (ﷺ)) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission.”(Qur’an, An-Nisa’, 4:65) Rasulullah (ﷺ) was the one in authority during this era. He was the sole authorized interpreter and a living example in all matters. Since he was the authority when he was alive, people actually went to him to resolve their disputes.
Despite Rasulullah (ﷺ) being the authority during his time, he still allowed and encouraged the Sahabah to make ijtihad in his presence or otherwise. The main reason for this was to teach them the proper method for ijtihad.[1] After Rasulullah (ﷺ) passed away, the Sahabah conquered many new countries and hence, there were many exposures of new cultures and practices which were not directly addressed in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Therefore, the training for Sahabah to make ijtihad became important for them during the time of Rasulullah (ﷺ) as a need at that time as well as a guidance and preparation for the future.
An example of Rasulullah (ﷺ) asked the opinion of the Sahabah in his presence was before the Battle of Khandaq. When the news of the large army of Quraysh reached Madinah, Rasulullah (ﷺ) summoned his Companions for consultation of strategy. Salman al-Farisi said, “O Rasulullah! In Persia, when feared an attack (of horsemen), we would surround ourselves with a trench. Let us dig a trench around us now." Rasulullah (ﷺ) accepted Salman’s suggestion to dig the trench.[2] This shows that Rasulullah (ﷺ) openly accepted ideas that would help in the strategy of war.
Sometimes, the Sahabah exercise their own ijtihad during Rasulullah’s absence and later on, reported on their ijtihad to Rasulullah (ﷺ). An example of this is a hadith whereby ‘Umar al-Khattab and ‘Ammaar ibn Yaasir exercised ijtihad about tayammum. While ‘Umar decided to delay his prayer, ‘Ammaar decided to roll himself on the ground to perform tayammum and offered the prayer. Later, he told Rasulullah (ﷺ) about it who responded, “It is enough for you to strike the ground with your hands, then blow into them, then wipe up your face and the palms of your hands with them.”[3] Rasulullah (ﷺ) corrected ‘Ammaar about the acceptable nature of tayammum.
Usually, revelations for his judgment were revealed at that instance, but there were some occasions where he had to make his own deduction to solve the problems before revelations were revealed, in which, if it was wrong, Allah will correct him immediately. For example, Rasulullah (ﷺ) made ijtihad to seek forgiveness for the hypocrites.[4] Ibn 'Umar reported that when 'Abdullah b. Ubayy b. Salul died, his son 'Abdullah, came to Rasulullah (ﷺ) and begged him that he should give him his shirt to be used as a coffin for his father, and he gave him that. He then begged that he should conduct funeral prayer for him. Rasulullah (ﷺ) had hardly got up to observe the prayer for him that 'Umar stood up and caught hold of the garment of Rasulullah (ﷺ) and said, “Rasulullah, are you going to conduct prayer for this man, whereas Allah has forbidden you to offer prayer for him?” Thereupon Rasulullah (ﷺ) said, “Allah has given me an option as He has said, "You may beg pardon for them or you may not beg pardon for them, and even if you beg pardon for them, seventy times", and I am going to make an addition to the seventy.” Rasulullah (ﷺ) offered prayer for the hypocrite when later Allah SWT revealed this verse, "Do not offer prayer for any one of them at all and do not stand upon their graves for (offering prayer over them)". (Qur’an, Surah At-Tawbah, 9: 84)
The correction that Allah made for Rasulullah (ﷺ) indicates that He allowed Rasulullah (ﷺ) to make ijtihad at the first place. In other cases, Allah might not have corrected those related to purely worldly affairs based on expertise and experience like medicine, agriculture and technology [5] which proves that Rasulullah (ﷺ) is still a human being who can make mistakes.
In summary, the above explanations prove that ijtihad was established during his time, but it was not referred to using this terminology as it actually forms the Sunnah of Rasulullah (ﷺ). The definition of Sunnah is the way of life of Rasulullah (ﷺ) consisting of his sayings, actions and silent approvals which is contained in the various narrations of hadith. [6] Hence, this means that whatever Rasulullah (ﷺ) approved or any explanations because of his disapprovals from the disputes arose by the Sahabah or his mistakes in circumstances like in the hadith mentioned before becomes the Sunnah. [7] In addition, the validity of his ijtihad depended on the confirmation of revelation; hence his ijtihad was mainly done as a practice for the Sahabah in the application of Shariah after Rasulullah (ﷺ) had passed away.
Reference:
[1] Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, The Evolution of Fiqh, (Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2006), p. 52.
[2] Dr. ‘Ali Muhammad As-Sallaabee, The Noble Life of The Prophet (peace be upon him), (Riyadh, Maktaba Dar-us-Salam, 2005, Vol. 3, pg. 1359) [3] Qur’an, An-Naml, 27:6
[3] Narrated by ‘Abdur Rahman bin Abza, collected by Bukhari (English Translation), Vol. 1, Book 7, No. 334
[4] Reported by Ibn ‘Umar, collected by Muslim, (English Translation), book no. 38, hadith no. 6680
[5]http://forums.understanding-islam.com/showthread.php?8540-THE-SCOPE-OF-PROPHET-MUHAMMAD%92S-IJTIHAD
[6] Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, The Evolution of Fiqh, (Riyadh: International Islamic Publishing House, 2006), p. 199.
[7]http://www.suhaibwebb.com/islam-studies/islamic-law/towards-understanding-ijtihad-and-taqleed-a-brief-introduction/
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