Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/82



is the third foundation of the Muhammadan rule of faith. It literally means collecting, or assembling, and in Muslim divinity it expresses the unanimous consent of the Mujtahidín (learned doctors); or, as we should call it, 'the unanimous consent of the Fathers." A Mujtahid is a Muslim divine of the highest degree of learning, a title usually conferred by Muslim rulers. There are three foundations of Ijmaʾ: (1) Itifáq-i-Qauli, unanimous consent expressed in declaration of opinion; (2) Itifáq-i-Fiʾli, expressed in unanimity of practice; (3) Itifáq-i-Saqúti, when the majority of the Mujtahidín signified their tacit assent to the opinions of the minority by "silence" or non-interference.

The Mujtahidín, capable of making Ijmaʾ, must be "men of learning and piety, not heretics, nor fools, but men of judgment."

There is great diversity of opinion as to up to what period in the history of Islám,