Ideological Islam in the United States

"Idjtihad" in the Thought of Dr. Taha Jabir al-Alwani

Abstract

Dr. Sheikh Taha Jabir al-Alwani is a leading Sunni Islamic thinker, and a jurist who currently serves as the chairman of the Fiqh (religious legislation) Council of North America. As a Mufti (Chief Legislator), al-Alwani has been facing significant judicial challenges, presiding over a Muslim minority living in a Christian and ultra-modern environment. The article shows that in order to encounter such challenges, al-Alwani has integrated al-Azhar expertise in Islamic sources with a thorough understanding of American politics, economic life, and media. In this he has created a novel approach that employs Western knowledge in the service of Islamic legal mechanism. Al-Alwani's "islamization of knowledge" (islamiyat al-maarifa) further bridges the gap between faith (iman) and reason (aql), by applying independent judgment (ijtihad) to legislation. The article demonstrates how this approach follows mainstream Islamic orthodoxy in advocating return to early Islam, reasoning based directly on the Koran, and "collective ijtihad", while adapting Islamic legislation to local conditions and present circumstances.