Project Ijtihad

What is ijtihad?
Ijtihad (pronounced “ij-tee-had”) is Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. In the early centuries of Islam, thanks to the spirit of ijtihad, 135 schools of thought thrived. Inspired by ijtihad, Muslims gave the world inventions from the astrolabe to the university. So much of we consider "western" pop culture came from Muslims: the guitar, mocha coffee, even the ultra-Spanish expression "Ole!" (which has its root in the Arabic word for God, "Allah").
What happened to ijtihad?
Toward the end of the 11th century, the "gates of ijtihad" were closed for entirely political reasons. During this time, the Muslim empire from Iraq in the east to Spain in the west was going through a series of internal upheavals. Dissident denominations were popping up and declaring their own runaway governments, which posed a threat to the main Muslim leader -- the caliph. Based in Baghdad, the caliph cracked down and closed ranks. Remember those 135 schools of thought mentioned above? They were deliberately reduced to four pretty conservative schools of thought. This led to a rigid reading of the Koran as well as to a series of legal opinions -- fatwas -- that scholars could no longer overturn or even question, but could now only imitate. To this very day, imitation of medieval norms has trumped innovation in Islam. It’s time to revive ijtihad to update Islam for the 21st century. That’s why we’ve created Project Ijtihad.
What is Project Ijtihad?
Project Ijtihad’s Vision and Mission:
Project Ijtihad is a charitable initiative to promote the spirit of Ijtihad, Islam’s own tradition of critical thinking, debate and dissent. We support a positive vision of Islam that embraces diversity of choices, expression and spirituality.To achieve this, Project Ijtihad will build the world’s most inclusive network of reform-minded Muslims and Non-Muslim allies.
What are we doing to achieve this so far?
We’re sparking taboo-busting debates both online and in person. For example, can a Muslim woman marry a non-Muslim man? It’s a hot 21st century issue, as more Muslims are born in the West or migrate there, then encounter people of other religions and fall in love. Muslim parents and imams routinely tell their children that Islam forbids marriage to non-Muslims but that¹s not necessarily true. One progressive imam has written a clear, concise defense of inter-faith marriage from an Islamic perspective.
We've posted his ’blessing’ on this site (see our blog!) as well as on Irshad Manji's official site. It’s become such a popular download - and source of discussion - that she has had to get the blessing translated into several languages to keep up with demand. Young Muslim women in Western Europe feel especially empowered by the blessing, as their emails tell her.
Project Ijtihad’s ultimate goal is to foster the world’s most inclusive network of reform-minded Muslims. Such Muslims already exist in spades. Our mission is to bring them out of the shadows. They need to know that Islam gives them the permission to be thoughtful and faithful at the same time- and that, because they’re not alone, they can have such faith without fear.
We'll be announcing other, big and concrete, initiatives in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
Salaam and thank you for your interest. Now, whoever you are and wherever you come from- please, engage in debate and discussion here- and take these conversations into your real lives too. We’re excited to have you on board.
- Project Ijtihad
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