MAKKAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has promised to support religious scholars and researchers in their efforts to lay down guidelines for issuing fatwas (religious edicts) on various issues.
“The Kingdom will support all your efforts to lay down guidelines for issuing fatwas and to evolve an effective mechanism to counter extraneous interpolations of religious texts,” King Abdullah told scholars attending the International Conference on Fatwa and its Regulations, which began in Makkah yesterday. The king’s speech was read out by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal.
More than 170 scholars from around the world are participating in the five-day conference organized by the Muslim World League’s (MWL) Fiqh Academy. In all 40 research papers will be presented at the conference.
“Issuing a fatwa is a very serious matter as it involves making a decision on the basis of the law laid down by Allah and explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him),” MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki said last week.
Fatwas are opinions or rulings that cover minor and major matters of life and are issued by Islamic scholars. Among the sources of fatwas are the Holy Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh).
King Abdullah said the Muslim Ummah was facing “various forms of campaigns against it, including fabricated accusations, and wars in Gaza and other places.”
“The current situation demands the unification of Muslim ranks and facing the world with a single voice after patching up rifts and burying differences. However, internally the Islamic world has been plagued by an extremely negative phenomenon, which is the tendency to deliver fatwas by unqualified persons, especially on satellite television channels, the Internet and other modern channels of communication,” he said.
“Issuing ill-considered fatwas without following any criterion offers biased, ignorant, extremist or careless individuals the opportunity to pose as religious experts qualified to issue fatwas. On the other hand, they have been abusing Islam and distorting its noble values besides offering its enemies the justification for attacking the Holy Qur’an and spreading lies about the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him),” the king said in his speech.
The king warned that fatwas issued by fanatics, extremists or prejudiced people contaminated the minds, faith and conduct of Muslim youth. He also condemned the practice of considering others as heretics through fatwas.
“The Kingdom, which has been following the middle path of Islamic Law since its founding, feels that the time has come for a determined and collective Islamic stand against the hijacking of the middle path and deviation,” said King Abdullah, adding there was a need to protect Muslim societies from chaotic and whimsical fatwas.
The king thanked the Muslim World League and its Fiqh Academy for coming forward to deal with contemporary issues of the Ummah.
In his address, Abdullah Al-Turki drew the attention of the audience to the ordeal of the people of Gaza. Al-Turki urged Muslim and Arab leaders to spare no efforts to stop the aggression, lift the blockade, open border crossings and provide humanitarian aid.
“It is Muslims’ negligence to practice their religious obligations and distancing themselves from the teachings of the Holy Book and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) that really make them weak,” Al-Turki said.
Saleh Al-Marzouqi, secretary-general of the Fiqh Academy, said the academy, which includes eminent Islamic scholars from all over the world, strives to find acceptable and correct solutions to contemporary issues faced by the Ummah.
