Impact of the Development of Sciences and Means on Ijtihad Rulings: A Contemporary Fundamentalist Study

Abstract

The research aims to show the impact of the development of sciences and means on the ijtihad rulings that accept change, and the reasons for change, with reference to the most famous contemporary applications in this concern. The researcher has arrived at certain findings: the rulings that accept change are ijtihad rulings based on a jurisprudential principle, analogy or care of interest, and so on; whereas the fixed basic rulings do not accept change because of its flexibility and its validity for every time and place and its principles such as facilitation and removal of awkwardness. And the most important factors for changing rulings are: change of time and place, convention and custom, change of morals, care of interest and corruption, and the development of sciences. Among the most prominent contemporary applications in which the jurisprudential ruling has changed due to the development of sciences and means are the issue of entering the Hijri month, the issue of giving a final sentence about the harm of smoking, knowing the maximum duration of pregnancy, removing the fetus after it has been proven that its survival threatens the life of the mother, and the issue of splitting the abdomen of a dead woman to remove the living fetus according to Al-Saadi who issued a fatwa, opposite to Hanbali doctrine, that it is permissible to remove the living fetus from the dead mother because surgery has developed, and such an act has become closer to the interest than to the corrupt. The researcher also recommended comparatively studying the issues of ijtihad rulings in which the ruling was affected by the development of contemporary means, and holding seminars and conferences that bring together Sharia scholars and scholars of other disciplines related to modern sciences.