[grizolsemn]

As-Salamu ´Alaykum,

Obviously the below does not paint a full picture, but I thought I would add this for now:

Sayyidi Ahmad bin Idris (teacher of Sanusy) on Ijtihad:

”The nub of the matter is that knowledge means for us, ”God says...” and ”His Messenger said...”, namely nothing but the Book and the Sunna. [Risalat al-radd ´ala ahl al-ra'y]

Shaykh Muhammad ´Illaysh in his fatwa against Imam al-Sanusy and those who,

”Incline towards the statement of Ahmad bin Idris in this, saying that the books of Fiqh are not free from error and that they contain many injunctions that differ from the sound Hadiths. Why should you leave the verses (of the Qur'an) and the sound Hadiths and adhere to the Imams in their independent judgement (fi 'jtihaadihim) which is liable (al-muhtamal) to error? Moreover, he (i.e either Ibn Idris or al-Sanusy) says to whoever sticks to the words of the Imams and those who imitate them, ”I say to you, 'God says...', or 'The Messenger of God said...', while they are saying 'Malik says...', or 'Abu l-Qasim says...', or 'Khalil says...'; you are opposing the words of the Lawgiver (the Prophet) who was free from error with the words of those for whom error is possible.” [Fat'h al-´ali al-Malik]

Keep in mind that the second quote is from an "opponent", and is therefore not totally objective in its presentation of the views of Sayyidi Ahmad bin Idris and Sayyidi Muhammad al-Sanusy, rahimahumu'Llah. One of Sayyidi Ahmad bin Idris' Yemeni students, ´Akish, who was also a student of Shawkani, compared their approach to Hadith, deeming them to very very similar.


As far as the categorization of the ´ulama and who is permitted to excercise ijtihad (restricted or unrestricted), they are differed upon and their meanings not always clear cut.


wa'Llahu a'lam