The Issue of Fatwa Application

THE ISSUE OF FATWA APPLICATION education obtained in the madrasa; it is only their outward structure. A mosque is essentially a place of worship, and a madrasa is essentially a place of religious education. Fatwas or statements of this kind about outward structures seriously harm the spirit of Islam. They shift the emphasis unnecessarily to the structure, whereas the correct approach is to emphasize worship and education. The real focus should be on better worship and better education. Speaking in this way about structures distorts people’s thinking, and distorting the mind is regarded as a serious wrongdoing in Islam. Why has such a negative mindset developed among Muslims? There is one primary reason: Muslims have lost the temperament required to convey God’s message in the present age. Other communities are no longer seen as people to be informed of this message; instead, they are seen as rivals and competitors. This change in outlook has led to the undesirable outcomes mentioned above. For a Muslim, the correct religious temperament is what may be called a dawah-oriented temperament. In contrast, the prevailing temperament among Muslims today is a communal or national temperament, not a dawah-oriented one. Dawah means conveying to other human beings the eternal message of mercy from