A clergyman who has studied sufficiently and achieved the level of competence necessary to interpret shari'a law (see Ijtihad).

a religious scholar who does ijtihad, i

one who practices independent reasoning, or ijtihad

a person who is an expert of Islamic jurisprudence

is s specialist on the deduction of the Islamic rules from four major sources: the Qur'an, Hadith, conscience of the community, and reasoning.

a Faqih by definition, but went further by pronouncing his legal

one who is qualified to pass judgments using ijtihaad.