al-Usul min Ilm al-Usul - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (86)

6 – He must possess the capacity that enables him to extract rulings from their proofs.

Ijtihad may also be partial, confined to one specific field of law or even to a single question within it.

What is incumbent upon the mujtahid:
The mujtahid must exert every effort to discover the truth and then issue judgment according to what becomes clear to him. If he is correct, he earns two rewards: one for his exertion and another for reaching the truth, for recognizing the truth both manifests it and puts it into practice. Should he err, he still receives one reward, and his mistake is forgiven, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When a judge rules, strives, and then is correct, he has two rewards; and when he rules, strives, and then errs, he has one reward.” (1)

If no ruling becomes evident to him, he must refrain from judgment, and in that situation it is permissible—out of necessity—for him to resort to taqlid (following another’s opinion without independent proof).

(1) Reported by al-Bukhari, hadith no. 7352, Book of Al-Iʿtisam (Holding Fast to the Quran and the Sunnah), chapter 21: “The reward of the judge who exercises ijtihad and is correct or mistaken.” Also reported by Muslim, hadith no. 1716, Book of Al-Aqdiyah (Judgments), chapter 6: “Clarification of the reward of the judge who exercises ijtihad and is correct or mistaken.”

٦ - أن يكون عنده قدرة يتمكن بها من استنباط الأحكام من أدلتها. والاجتهاد قد يتجزأ فيكون في باب واحد من أبواب العلم، أو في مسألة من مسائله. ما يلزم المجتهد: يلزم المجتهد أن يبذل جهده في معرفة الحق، ثم يحكم بما ظهر له فإن أصاب فله أجران: أجر على اجتهاده، وأجر على إصابة الحق؛ لأن في إصابة الحق إظهاراً له وعملاً به، وإن أخطأ فله أجر واحد، والخطأ مغفور له؛ لقوله ﷺ: «إذا حكم الحاكم فاجتهد، ثم أصاب فله أجران، وإذا حكم فاجتهد، ثم أخطأ فله أجر» (١). وإن لم يظهر له الحكم وجب عليه التوقف، وجاز التقليد حينئذٍ للضرورة.

(١) رواه البخاري «٧٣٥٢» كتاب الاعتصام، ٢١ - باب أجر الحاكم إذا اجتهد فأصاب أو أخطأ. ومسلم «١٧١٦» كتاب الأقضية، ٦ - باب بيان أجر الحاكم إذا اجتهد فأصاب أو أخطأ.