Ijaza (teaching licence)

Ijaza in the language is ratification; the jurists' usage does not depart from it, though they also apply it to granting and to permission to issue fatwa or teach; the hadith scholars use it for permission to transmit, whether hadith or a book. Ratification can only follow the act, unlike permission which precedes it. ¹

Four things for the majority: the ratified actor — one who acted without authority like the interloper (fuduli); the ratifier — owner of the act, principal, agent, guardian, executor or waqf supervisor; the ratified matter — the act itself; and the formula or what stands in its place. The Hanafis confine "integral" to the formula alone. ¹

The ratified actor must be one whose act can be concluded — an adult of sound mind or a discerning minor in some acts; the insane or undiscerning child's act is void and unratifiable. And per the Hanafis the ratification must issue while the actor lives. ¹