This book examines ijtihad in its contemporary manifestation with the premise that there is a need to delimit the boundaries and framework of this process to reduce dispute and allow for focus on more strategic aspects of ijtihad. The earlier parts of this book focus on prevalent views on the main principles, components and element of ijtihad while analysing possible changes and modifications to the theory and practice of ijtihad.
The main findings of this study are that a substantial amount of the controversies surrounding ijtihad goes back to terminological difference and that the divide between contending trends may be narrowed down to reasonable degrees. Utilising these findings, the author went to highlight ideal approaches and suggest improvements for contemporary ijtihad in general and to the selected samples covered in this study.
