Muslims all over the world believe that the Qur'an is the literal word of God as revealed to Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel at the beginning of the seventh century. The Qur'an was revealed over the course of twenty-three years. Most of its verses came in response to and as guidance for emerging situations or conditions faced by the Prophet and his community of believers. Because any verse, when taken out of context, could be misunderstood or misapplied, a science known as asbab an-nouzoul ("the causes for the revelation") was developed to understand the specific reasons for and conditions related to any particular verse, thus enabling interpreters to better determine its meaning.

While there has been no disagreement among Muslims that the Qur'an is the literal word of God, there has been and continues to be substantial disagreement about the meanings of certain verses and their application to different situations. That is why, following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632 CE and for at least the first eight or nine centuries of Islam, there were a wide variety of opinions and schools of thought on almost every issue and question. Another science known as ijtihad (or reasoning and interpretation) was developed by Muslim scholars in order to understand and apply the message of the Qur'an to varying societal needs and conditions.

Sharia (Islamic law) is also subject to interpretation and to the ever-changing needs of society. Its guiding principles were designed to protect the individual and the society, but it was not established as a set of fixed rules. To respond to the changing needs of Muslim societies, Muslim jurists and scholars have relied on the well-established process of innovation, ijtihad. This process is based not only on the Qur'an and religious tradition (sunna), but also on reason, deduction, and prioritization.

The following examples illustrate the use of ijtihad. Fifteen years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, Caliph Omar ibn-al-Khattab stopped cutting off the hands of thieves because most of them were stealing out of necessity due to hunger, poverty, and drought. While this contradicted a verse from the Qur'an, he justified his decision by stating that the principles of justice and fairness were supreme. Similarly, in 2000, councils of Muslim ulamas (scholars) in Europe and the United States decreed that it was permissible for Muslims residing in the West to buy houses with mortgages and to pay interest on these loans. This contradicted a Qur'anic teaching against charging and paying interest, but respected Muslim scholars justified the ruling, arguing that such permission was necessary for Muslims to meet their financial and social needs in the West. Another example is a case in which Imam Muhammad Ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, one of the founders of Islamic jurisprudence, gave a certain legal opinion in Baghdad. One year later he moved to Cairo, and in response to the same question he gave a very different opinion. Someone questioned him, "Oh Imam, last year in Baghdad you gave a different answer," and he replied, "That was in Baghdad and this is in Cairo. That was last year and this is now." When employing ijtihad, scholars considered the time, place, norms, and prevailing conditions when they rendered their religious advice and opinions.

The process of ijtihad has enabled Muslims to be flexible and to learn from other cultures and civilizations. Islam teaches that no one owns the truth and that the true believer is always in search of the truth and wisdom; wherever he finds them, he follows. This ongoing search for truth and for the overarching Islamic principle of justice has led Muslims and Muslim scholars to respect one another's opinions, making them willing to change their own opinions if proven wrong. Muslim religious scholars used to say, "This is my opinion and I could be wrong. And this is someone else's opinion and they could be right." No one had a monopoly on the truth.

Until about 1500 CE, this process allowed Muslims and Muslim societies to continually adapt in the face of changing societal conditions and new advances in knowledge. Unfortunately, as Muslim civilization began to weaken about four or five centuries ago in the face of Western advances, Muslims began to adopt a more conservative stance in an attempt to preserve traditional values and institutions. As a result, many scholars became inclined to view innovation and adaptation negatively.

This was the beginning of the decline of Muslim civilization. Since then, Islamic law has become increasingly detached from reality and modernity. Old interpretations no longer provide suitable answers to the difficult questions facing the Muslim world.

Many Muslims believe that they must choose between Islam and modernity, or Islam and democracy. This is a false choice. When faced with this decision, most Muslims would choose Islam and reject anything that they regarded as alien or contrary to the principles of their faith. For this reason there is a crisis in the Muslim world today. There is no way out of this predicament without renewing the concept of ijtihad and using the process to develop modern interpretations of Islamic principles compatible with both the word of God and the situations, ideas, and values that have emerged over the past several centuries.

One of the gravest mistakes Muslims have committed is closing the doors of ijtihad. They have limited legal interpretation to only four prominent scholars: Malik Ibn Anas, Abu Hanifa al-No'man, Muhammad Ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, and Ahmad Ibn Hambal—the heads of the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i, and Hambali schools of thought. The motivation for this was political. During the Abbasid Dynasty (750–1258 CE), the Abbasids decided to outlaw all other sects in order to strictly control religion and worship, as well as political matters.
Closing the doors of ijtihad has had extremely detrimental ramifications for the Muslim world. This decision has resulted in chronic intellectual stagnation, as thousands of potential mujtahids and scholars have been prohibited from offering workable solutions to newly emerging problems. Muslim thinkers have become captive to rules that were made long ago, leaving little scope for liberal or innovative thought.
Governments in Muslim countries today, many of which are corrupt, greatly benefit from the absence of ijtihad. Moreover, these governments help keep the doors of ijtihad closed in order to control the religious establishment. Since religious bodies in Muslim countries rely on government financing, this makes them captive to government policies. The domination of the religious establishments by secular governments has been so powerful that it has often made religious authorities look inept. The first step toward opening the door of ijtihad.should be the liberation of religious establishments from the influence of political regimes. Religious authorities should dissociate themselves from political regimes so that they can independently issue and interpret religious law.
There cannot be true ijtihad, unless scholars are free to express their opinions and other scholars are free to criticize them if they make errors. Freedom of expression is inherent in the concept and practice of ijtihad. This means that the democratization of Muslim societies and basic freedom for scholars is sine qua non for this process to work.
Reforming Muslim educational systems is also essential, including revising the curricula of religious schools and seminaries. Instead of learning about only a single school of interpretation, which is common practice, students should be exposed to all such schools. Instead of studying only the rulings and interpretations of the schools, students should also learn about the evidence used to arrive at these interpretations, as well as other methods of interpretation. Students should also study comparative religion, modern logic, philosophy, psychology, and history, as well as economics and political theory as background for improved interpretation. Islamic schools and seminaries should also pay more attention to the great Islamic literature on the objectives of sharia.
Ijtihad should be a collective endeavor. There are currently several national and international fiqh councils (councils of jurisprudence and interpretation of sharia), but they need to be better organized and they should work together collaboratively. Sharia experts, both men and women, should be members of these councils. Membership should not be limited to sharia scholars; experts from the fields of medicine, astronomy, economics, social and political sciences, and law should also be included as consultants and advisers. Even non-Muslim scholars who are sympathetic and objective should be invited to contribute. These councils should not only issue rulings but also provide the evidence and methodologies behind their rulings. They should also strive to build consensus as much as possible.
One of the principal reasons for the failure of Muslims to reconcile Islam and modernity is that the process of ijtihad was closed several centuries ago. However, the sacred texts of Islam need to be interpreted in the light of contemporary realities and modern knowledge. For ijtihad to be performed successfully in a society, democracy and freedom of expression must prevail. While scholars of Islamic law clearly have very important roles to play in the revived practice of ijtihad, they should not have exclusive responsibility over this practice. Faithfulness to the text needs to be combined with creative imagination to produce the most enlightened reinterpretations, suitable for the twenty-first century. Muslim scholars and leaders in the United States and other Western societies have particular opportunities as well as a responsibility to lead a revival of ijtihad. Muslim scholars in the West have the freedom to think creatively while still being faithful to the texts, and their new interpretations could stimulate new thinking among the more traditional religious establishments in Muslim countries.

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"A man can be as great as he wants to be. If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."