اقبال کی فارسی شاعری و فقہی روایت : تصورِ اجتہاد اور اسلامی شریعت کا تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Iqbal’s Concept of Ijtihad and Islamic Shari‘ah: A Study in His Urdu and Persian Discourse

Abstract

This paper investigates Allama Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophical and poetic articulation of Ijtihad—independent reasoning—in relation to Islamic Shari‘ah, focusing on both his Urdu and Persian works. Iqbal conceptualizes Ijtihad not merely as a juristic mechanism but as a vital, rejuvenating force necessary for the intellectual and spiritual vitality of the Muslim Ummah. His thought emerges in response to the stagnation of traditional jurisprudence and the blind imitation (taqlīd) that had, in his view, paralyzed Islamic societies. Iqbal argues for a re-opening of the “gate of Ijtihad,” envisioning it as a process grounded in the Qur’an and Sunnah yet open to rational inquiry and contextual relevance. Through his speeches, such as the Allahabad Address, and his treatise The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, he presents Ijtihad as a dynamic and continuous effort to align divine law with the needs of an evolving civilization. In his Urdu poem “Ijtihad” and Persian collections such as Rumūz-e-Bekhūdī and Payām-e-Mashriq, Iqbal fuses poetic imagination with jurisprudential insight, presenting the mujtahid as an enlightened thinker who bridges tradition and modernity. This paper analyzes how Iqbal integrates legal theory, historical consciousness, and philosophical depth to propose a vision of Shari‘ah that is adaptable, forward-looking, and spiritually rooted. It concludes that Iqbal’s notion of Ijtihad represents both a critique of juristic inertia and a call for the creative reconstruction of Islamic legal and moral frameworks in the modern age.