What is Ijtihad?

http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/general-al-tawhid/ijtihad-its-meaning-sourcesbeginnings-and-practice-ray-muhammad-ibrah-1#ijtihad-utterances-prophet-s
http://thelawstudy.blogspot.com/2014/07/importance-of-ijtihad-in-islamiclaw.html
http://www.academia.edu/4497745/The_Role_of_Ijtih
%C4%81d_in_Progressing_Islamic_Law_in_Modern_Times
Significance and utilization of Ijtihad in Islamic law history (heavy
elaboration)
http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0354
http://www.stevenmasood.org/article/concept-ijtihad-history-islamicjurisprudence
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/general-al-tawhid/ijtihad-its-meaning-sourcesbeginnings-and-practice-ray-muhammad-ibrah-4#practice-ijtihad
http://www.irfi.org/articles3/articles_4801_4900/ijtihad%20and%20the
%20development%20of%20islamic%20legal%20theoryhtml.htm
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/general-al-tawhid/outline-history-restrictionijtihad-shaykh-aga-buzurg-tehrani
http://acc.teachmideast.org/texts.php?
module_id=2&reading_id=210&sequence=3
Opinion of people on Ijtihad
Gate of Ijtihad closed?
http://www.jus.unitn.it/download/gestione/moussa.abouramadan/20111005_1107
The%20Gate%20of%20Ijtihad.pdf
Progressive Muslims assert that the closing the doors of ijithad has debilitated
"intellectual growth"
http://dspace.cigilibrary.org/jspui/bitstream/123456789/15036/1/Ijtihad
%20Reinterpreting%20Islamic%20Principles%20for%20the%20Twenty%20first
%20Century.pdf?1
Voices of a New Ijtihad
http://islamuswest.org/publications_islam_and_the_West/Who_Speaks_For_Islam/
Who-Speaks-For-Islam_21.html
Open the Gates of Ijtihad
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=2579&lan=en&sp=1

Development and history of Ijtihad (short version)

During the early years of Islam, when religious law was first being
formulated, ijtihad was a common process practiced by trained jurists and
recognized as "ra'y"

As the meaning and process of ijtihad became more clearly constructed.

Ijtihad was "limited to a systematic method of interpreting the law on the

basis of authoritative texts, the Quran and Sunna," and the rulings could
be "extended to a new problem as long as the precedent and the new
situation shared the same clause.

As the practice of ijtihad transformed over time, it became religious duty

of a mujahad (people who is well versed in Islamic legal sources) to
conduct legal rulings for the Muslim society.

Around the beginning of the 900s, most Sunni jurists argued that all major
matters of religious law had been settled, allowing for taqlid, "the
established legal precedents and traditions," to take priority over ijtihad.

Due to the Sunni movement towards taqlid during this era, some Western
scholars today argue that this period led to the notion of the "closure of
the doors of ijtihad" in Islam.

However, the Shi'i Muslims recognized "human reasoning and intellect as

a legal source that supplements the Quran and other revealed texts," thus
continuing to acknowledge the importance of ijtihad. (Noted: the usage of
Ijtihad heavily depends on the law schools, Sunni disapproved, but others
like Shii still continued to use it)

During the turn of the seventeenth century, Sunni Muslim reformers began
to criticize taqlid, and promoted greater use of ijtihad in legal matters.

recent years, ijtihad has been the center of public discussion as reformers
argue for the "replacement of taqlid with ijtihad as a way to confront legal
issues raised by contact with modern Western society."[