Is ijtihad considered a deficiency in the Islamic religion, given that it is conjectural? And is God pleased with the اختلاف (disagreement) of scholars in His religion, even though He condemns اختلاف? And how can one reconcile the hadith "If a judge makes a ruling and is correct, he will have two rewards; and if he makes a mistake, he will have one reward" with the hadith "Whoever speaks about the Qur'an based on his own opinion should prepare his seat in Hellfire"?

Ijtihad (independent reasoning) is a sign of the perfection of Sharia and Allah's mercy, not a deficiency in it. The blameworthy doubt (dhann) is that which is not based on signs or indications, unlike the dhann of mujtahideen (scholars who perform ijtihad) which is built upon examination of evidence. Disagreement in matters of dhann (conjectural matters) is not disliked by Allah; rather, those who differ are rewarded. The blameworthy disagreement is that which occurs after the emergence of definitive proofs.