1 - Endless Bliss - Hüseyin Hilmi Işık

Jarîrî were in the madhhab of Hanafî; Harîs-i Muhasibî was a
Shâfi’î (Qaddasallâhu ta’âlâ Asrarahum/may Allahu ta’âlâ make
their secrets very sacred.)]
27 – Sayyid Abdulhakîm Arwâsî (rahmatullahi ’alaih) [1] says
in his book Ashâb-i kirâm, “İjtihâd means to work with all one’s
might, to strive and to take pains. In other words, it is to strive to
derive the rules to solve problems that have not been explained
clearly and openly in the Qur’ân or in the hadîths by likening
them to matters that have been explained clearly and in detail.
This can be done only by our Prophet (sall Allahu ’alaihi wa
sallam), by all his Ashâb and, from among other Muslims, by
those who have been promoted to the grade of ijtihâd; these
exalted people are called Mujtahid. Allahu ta’âlâ commands us
to perform ijtihâd in many places of the Qur’ân. Then, it is a
binding rule for mujtahids to perform ijtihâd. These are the great
people who can understand the rules of the Sharî’at and
religious matters lying in the depths of the âyats and hadîths
that do not have clearly understandable meanings by using
their understanding of the text and the meaning that can be
inferred from the text. To be a mujtahîd it is necessary to know
the high branches of Arabic thoroughly, to know the Qur’ân by
heart, to know what each âyat means, the meanings that it
indicates, the meanings lying hidden in it, the meanings that
must be given according to the subject, to know when âyats
descended, why they descended, about what they descended,
if they are general or particular, if they are nâsih or mansûh, [1] if
they are conditioned [2] or unconditional, how they have been
[1] He was a great and profound religious savant. His name was mentioned
in the preface of our book. His letter to a university student radiates
knowledge. It was translated into English and published as a brochure.
Our book includes that letter. He died in 1362 A.H. (1943).
[1] Some âyats were changed by some other âyats that descended later.
The former are called mansûh, which means ‘changed.’ The latter are
called nâsih, which means ‘the one that has changed the other.’ The
âyat about wine is an example.
[2] Some âyats depend on some conditions, e.g. the âyat “O believers,
perform namâz,” is conditioned, because to perform namâz one has to
be sane and pubert, and has to have a ritual ablution, etc. But the âyat
“O people, have îmân,” is unconditional because everybody has to
have îmân.
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