Ijtihad

In terms of language, ijtihad means the outpouring of effort and in doing something.
Whereas from the point of view of syara ', ijtihad means the outpouring of effort and energy
by a mujtahid to infer the law of syara' .

Collective ijtihad

Collective ijtihad (Ijtihad jama‘i) can be defined as the earnestness and mobilization of all
the abilities of the majority of qualified jurists to perform ijtihad to produce zann (strong
suspicion) with Islamic law through inference, and they agree (unanimously or majority) on a
law after an in -depth discussion session (al-Syarafi, 1998: 46). This situation aims to get a
decision guided by Islamic law on an old problem or new ones related to the general life of
Muslims or some of them in a state or country.

Differences between collective ijtihad and ijma’

Collective ijtihad differs from ijma' because ijma' requires the agreement of all mujtahids of
the contemporary Prophet Muhammad PBUH in Syarak law while collective ijtihad requires
the agreement of a group of mujtahid scholars or majority, even adequate with the
consensus of majority mujtahid scholars who participated in the discussion session in the
ijtihad only.

The importance of collective Ijtihad in the recent practice of Islamic law

 Ijitihad jama'i will produce more accurate and sound results for an issue discussed.
This will help to standardize the implementation of Islamic law so that there is no
contentious in making a ruling relates to current issues like economics, medical, and
food.  
 Ijtihad jama'i can solve current issues faced by the Muslim community especially and
humanity in general. For example, the ruling on using the covid-19 vaccine was
discussed by the Muzakarah Fatwa Committee of the National Council for Islamic
Religious Affairs Malaysia.
Introduction to Shariah

Shariah literally means the path to the watering place or a path to seek felicity and salvation
for clear and the truth . In common usage , shariah refers to commands, prohibitions,
guidance and principles that God has addressed to mankind . Thus to enable man to forsake
the dictates of hawa .

Shariah also revealed in two scope , Qur’an and Sunnah . Quran was the main source of the
shariah because we can see all the shariah usage were refer to commandments from Allah .
Furthermore , the sunnah can be define as a complement to explains and clarifies the
meaning of the Quran leading to understand the shariah. Shariah also as the guidance and
protection of human being . In this discussion, maqasid shariah (daruriyah al-khamsah) has
been completely told the objective shariah was to protect religion, life, mind, family and
properties .

Next, the rules of shariah are thus classified into two main categories of ‘ibadat (devotional
matters) and mu’amalat (civil transactions) . In short, the ‘ibadat course to regulate
relationship between human and God . In mu’amalat , it can be refers to public rights which
the justice used widely to achieve the good man and good civilian .

In conclusion, shariah can be understand to guide for a better life with the wahy (Quran and
Sunnah) and also to prevent from the influence of hawa that might be a big caused of
harmful matter . The Quran had said in surah al-Qasas verse 50 “ who is more misguided
than the one who follows his hawa and neglects the guidance of God ?”   .
Shariah has some of the distinguishing features, such as its identity as a religious law, its
tendency to balance continuity and change, its support for rationality, and gradualist
approach to social reform. Islamic law comes from divine revelation that shows the
obedience of Muslims to its rules as well as the obligations of Islamic law and religion. This
is closely related to the concept of halal and haram (permitted and prohibited).  This is an
important but often overlooked aspect of sharia in the field of ahkam (orders and
prohibitions) which encourages court and government decisions to practice as an example
of judges tasked with judging equally regardless of race and religion.  The difference
between what can be done in court and what cannot be seen in the composition of the five
values.  Only wajib and haram are the categories of law except that the rest (mandub,
mubah, makruh) are allowed in court.  The difference between religion and the law of duty
also signifies the difference between judgment and opinion of fiqh (fatwa).  The judge
makes a decision based on tangible and apparent evidence while the mufti (jurisconsult)
investigates both before issuing a decision.  If there is a conflict, the mufti based his fatwa
on religious considerations while the judge only considers objective evidence only.
Approaches to rights and obligations can also be seen in various externally related legal
school orientations and intentions about civil transactions, shafie and hanafi emphasize the
externalities of behavior without exploring the meaning behind it whereas maliki and
hanbali tend towards the latter.  This refers to the marriage contract, if a man marries a
woman with a single intention such as sexual gratification and quick divorce to follow, the
marriage is not valid according to the maliki and hanbali sects but valid by the hanafi and
shafie sects.  When the legal conditions of the validity of the marriage contract are met, this
is required according to hanafi and syafie but other sects are of the opinion that its
deviation should be prevented if uni occurs.  This distinction refers to the law of stratagems
(al- liyal al- fiqhiyyah). Shariah morality clearly tends to duty (taklif) so much so that
orientalists emphasize shariah as a "system of duties" which is contrary to the law which
often talks about rights.  The fact that shariah prohibits riba ', drinking alcohol, gambling
and other legal obligations reflects the moral principles of shariah.  Rules on war which
prohibit the occurrence of disability, injury to children, women and the elderly as well as
damage to animals.  although it is not permissible to court (multasib) market regulators are
empowered to intervene and stop these immoral practices.  the institution of hisbah
(promoting good and preventing evil) serves to support moral values also shows the
difference between moral aspects and sharia law.

Shariah is aiming balance of continuity and change. Continuity and change which also
means as fixed and flexible for the latter. As been said by Ibn Qayyim al- Jazwiyyah, shariah
is law which do not change along the time and place in hence the law of halal and haram.
Shariah also susceptible to change based on public interest and circumstances. In Quran,
can be seen the flexiblity as shariah and its amenability to change based from the lingustic
view (‘amm, mutlaq, zahir,mujmal and mufassar). Some procedure such as for crime and
punishment like robbery and murder, Quran has provided specific details on what to do. On
priciples of government such as consultation, equality and basic rights, the Quran only
generaly brief on what to do.

People who misunderstand the shariah have a wrong view of the shariah, then they deviate
from the right path. All laws that are in favor of bad things such as justice for tyranny have
nothing to do with sharia. Shariah was created for the justice of all human beings with the
aim of reducing all forms of injustice to any human being. Therefore, sharia is suitable for
use in all places and times. Therefore, this law changes from time to time to suit the culture
or conditions of society in a country with the consensus of scholars, they can change the law
according to the necessary needs, as well as qiyas. qiyas is to equate the law of a new thing
that did not exist in the past with an existing thing because of the similarity of cause and
benefit. In the meaning of language, it is a measure, an equation, a measurement or a
comparison. In conclusion, this shariah law can be applied not only to muslims but also non-
muslims can be applied because its law is the fairest in the world