IJTIHAD IN THE DISCOURSEOF HUSEIN DJOZO

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th century 'islah' orientation became dominant, in other words religious modernism became a dominant orientation within the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, owing especially to the theoretical works and practical solutions of alims (scholars) such as Husein ef. Djozo. This alim was of the opinion that the institution of ijtihad should perform the function of renewal and instead of the surviving and outdated forms of certain elaborated Islamic concepts it should replace it with new and more appropriate ones, which are going to be better suited to the new situation and thus enable constant progress of the Islamic community. Consequently, Islam would be contemporary and, as a guiding spiritual force, it would be involved in all the activities of the Muslims. Its concepts would always be developing and would be applied in certain problem areas and conditions of a given historical moment. What brought about the stagnation and stopped the further development of the Islamic community is an attempt to declare the rst elaboration as the nal one, by accepting the taklid and prohibiting the ijtihad. The renewal of Islamic thought does not signify the changing of Islam or its revision but cleansing Islam from various misconceptions and mistaken perceptions, and the renewal of ijtihad and a development of new Islamic concepts.