Ijtihad, what is it?

The First Who Formed an Opinion (Ijtihad) was Iblis:

علي بن إبراهيم، عن أبيه، عن أحمد بن عبدهللا العقيلي، عن عيسى بن عبدهللا القرشي قال: دخل أبوحنيفة على أبي عبدهللا 
عليه السالم فقال له: يا أبا حنيفة ! بلغني أنك تقيس؟ قال: نعم قال: ال تقس فإن أول من قاس إبليس حين قال: خلقتني من نار 
وخلقته من طين، فقاس ما بين النار والطين، ولو قاس نورية آدم بنورية النار عرف فضل ما بين النورين، وصفاء أحدهما 
على اآلخر

Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Ahmad ibn ‘Abd Allah al-’Aqili from ‘Isa ibn ‘Abd Allah alQurashi who has said the following:
‘Once, abu Hanifa came to see Imam Abu ‘Abd Allahasws who said to abu Hanifa, ‘O abu 
Hanifa, do you practice analogy(6)
as I hear you do’? Abu Hanifa replied, ‘Yes, I do 
practice analogy.’ The Imamasws then said to him, ‘Do not practice it; the first person 
who used analogy was Iblis when he said, “Lord, you have created me from fire and 
created him from clay.’ He analogised fire with clay. If he had compared ‘نورية’ the light 
in Adamas and light of ‘النار’ the fire, he would have learned about the difference between 
the two lights and the excellence of one over the other.’(7)


6
Comparitive/similarity/likeness/resemblance
7
Al-Kafi, Vol. 1, - H 176, Ch. 19, h20