** (Series of answers by the scholar Sheikh Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, to questions from visitors to his Facebook page)**
To: Al-Abid Lillah
Question:
It was mentioned in the book Nidham al-Islam (The System of Islam):
"Therefore, the supreme goals for safeguarding society are not man-made; rather, they are from the commands and prohibitions of Allah. They are fixed and neither change nor evolve. Preserving the human species, the mind, human dignity, human life, private property, religion, security, and the state are fixed supreme goals for safeguarding society that are not subject to change or evolution."
The question: Are there not ijtihadat (legal reasonings) in the constitution to change some texts, even though it was stated in the text that they are not subject to change or evolution? I hope for clarification on this, may Allah bless you and aid you.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu,
My brother, ijtihad does not occur in texts if they are definitive in transmission (qat’i ath-thubut) and definitive in meaning (qat’i ad-dalalah). That is, definitive in their transmission, such as a Verse or a mutawatir Hadith, and definitive in their meaning according to linguistic research and the categories of the Book and the Sunnah. Rather, ijtihad occurs in texts of speculative meaning (dhanni ad-dalalah), whether they are definitive in transmission or speculative in transmission... As long as the meaning is speculative, ijtihad occurs in it as is well-known in the science of Usul and Fiqh.
The matters mentioned in the book as being the supreme goals for safeguarding the Islamic society are definitive in transmission and definitive in meaning. Therefore, their ruling does not change through ijtihad because ijtihad does not occur here; the texts regarding them are definitive, and there is no ijtihad in the presence of definitive texts.
Your brother, Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah
Link to the answer on the Ameer's Facebook page