Fatwa Activism or Educational Activism

FATWA ACTIVISM OR EDUCATIONAL ACTIVISM from visiting certain religious places; they declare individuals guilty of insulting the Prophet  and issue fatwas calling for their killing; they label certain authors as controversial and issue fatwas advising people not to read their books; they declare individuals as apostates and issue fatwas calling for their social boycott; they pronounce television and similar modern means to be forbidden and issue rulings urging people to avoid them; they declare banking and other new developments to be un-Islamic and issue fatwa’s calling for their non-use; and so on. Thousands of such fatwas have been issued in the modern era, yet all of them have proved ineffective. The outcome of every such fatwa has been the same: it failed to produce the desired result. Throughout the entire modern period, I know of only one instance in which a mufti, despite receiving a request for a ruling, refused to issue a fatwa. In my view, this was the correct approach. During the British period, there was a scholar in Delhi named Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani (d. 1831). He wrote a Quranic commentary that became known as Tafsir Haqqani. At that time, the British government introduced paper currency in place of gold and silver coins. From a traditional religious perspective, these paper notes, at first glance, appeared un-Islamic.