How is the erring mujtahid, whose ijtihad is based on doubt and personal desire, considered to be sinful, and does sinfulness imply blameworthiness?
Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, divided people regarding (independent reasoning) into three categories:
- The purely scholarly Mujtahid: This is someone who seeks only the truth. Such a person is forgiven and rewarded. - The purely passion-driven follower: This is someone who knows the truth but stubbornly opposes it. Such a person deserves punishment. - The Mujtahid whose Ijtihad is a mixture of doubt and passion: This describes the majority of people. In them, desire and doubt converge. Such a person is a wrongdoer, and their degrees vary according to what predominates within them and their effacing good deeds. This category refers to someone who has embarked on the path of Ijtihad, but their intention is not purely to seek the truth; rather, they have a passion supported by a doubt. They are torn between the desire for truth and their inclination towards doubt and passion. Their being a "wrongdoer" means that they erred by not making their intention purely for the truth but mixing it with passion, and they sin if passion leads them to contravene the truth.
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Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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