Ijtihad is described as a creative and disciplined intellectual effort to derive legal rulings from Islamic sources while taking into consideration the variables brought on by the fluctuating circumstances of the Muslim world. Though the world has changed and expanded, humanitys need for these teachings viewed through the clarifying concept of ijtihad has not.
To right these wrongs of gross misguidance within Muslim society, we must deconstruct history in order to discern what went wrong after the revelation of the Quran was shared with the world. The Muslim Book of Why seeks to do so, refocusing Muslim thought on a life of faith, family development, and worship.
Warithudeen Umar is the former ministerial program coordinator for the New York State Department of Correctional Services. He holds a BA in criminal justice law from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an MA in Islamic law from the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia. He pioneered Islamic “Institutional Da’wah” in American institutions in the last quarter of the twentieth century. He currently lives in New York.