It is only through ijtihad that Muslims will be able to construct a new specific methodological infrastructure capable of addressing the crisis of Islamic thought and so, propose alternatives for the many problems of the contemporary world. The courage that needs to accompany such a mission is tremendous, the methodology massive an meticulous. With this work, Dr Al-Alwani has contributed to the debate on this vital issue. The very way he tackled it-sometimes with boldness, sometimes with caution-shows that the debate is not an open-and shut issue, and that it needs to be widen quickly in view of the urgency of the situation.
Dr. Taha Jabir Al-Alwani is a graduate of Al-Azhar University and an internationally known scholar and expert in the fields of Islamic legal theory, jurisprudence (fiqh), and usul al-fiqh. He is President of The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS), USA; President of The Fiqh Council of North America; Member of the OIC Islamic Fiqh Academy; and former President of The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), USA. He is also the author of numerous works including: “Source Methodology in Islamic Jurisprudence”, “Towards a Fiqh for Minorities”; “The Ethics of Disagreement in Islam”; “Ijtihad”; and “The Qur’an and the Sunnah: The Time-Space Factor”. (2005).