Legal position of fatwa: observations from selected jurisdictions

• Main Authors: Md Nor, Mohd Zakhiri, Megat Latif, Hairuddin, Md Desa, Md Rejab, Mohd Khalid, Al Hanisham, Hussain, Mohammad Azam
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: K Law (General)
• Online Access: http://repo.uum.edu.my/21638/1/Legal%20Position%20of%20%20Fatwa%20%28SOLAS%202016%29.pdf; http://repo.uum.edu.my/21638/

This paper aims to trace the Islamic concept of Ifta within the context of the legal position of fatwa in the jurisdictional limits of four countries: Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan. Essentially, the Islamic Shariah has placed great emphasis on the practices of ijtihad in the early days of Islam. However, today, the Islamic nations worldwide are governed by the respective laws of the land, which makes it improbable that similar rules and treatment apply to the fatwas,muftis and fatwa issuing bodies. Hence this paper examines the legal position of fatwa in selected jurisdictions as aforementioned.It was found that in Malaysia, the National fatwa council is merely as a consultative body and whatever fatwa passed by the Council is not binding until it has been gazetted by the respective state. There is no Grand Mufti in Malaysia unlike in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Sudan, which in turn makes the fatwa binding in the people, Additionally, it was further learned that fatawa in Malaysia are not streamlined.There are various fatawa issued by the respective states which are contradictory to each other.It is hoped that this paper will shed light to future research on this subject matter, particularly the legal aspects of fatwa,mufti and fatwa issuing body in Malaysia.