FATWA ACTIVISM

FATWA ACTIVISM Self-styled Shariah T HERE is much talk these days about different kinds of activism. One hears of political activism, social activism, community activism, media activism, judicial activism, etc. A section of Muslim religious leaders have launched a new form of activism of their own—what can be called ‘fatwa activism’. They think that by issuing a flurry of fatwas they can reform Muslim society. So, one hears of scores of fatwas against 'un-Islamic' dress, fatwas against women being present at certain religious places, fatwas calling for the killing of people accused of traducing the Prophet, fatwas demanding the banning of books by controversial authors, fatwas declaring some persons as apostates and insisting on their social boycott, fatwas announcing television or other things to be haraam or forbidden, fatwas declaring banking to be unIslamic etc. Fatwas of these sorts have been issued in their thousands in recent years, but almost all of them have proved to be practically without any impact. They have not been able to produce the changes that they intended to. It is interesting to note one instance where a mufti refused to give a fatwa despite being asked to do so. Such an approach is the right way to deal with the situation. This instance concerns a noted Indian Islamic scholar, Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani, who died in 1831. He has authored a commentary on the Quran. In his period, the British had replaced gold and silver coins with paper money. This new form of money appeared to be unacceptable according to the rules of traditional fiqh or Muslim jurisprudence. The Maulana was asked to issue a fatwa on the matter to opine whether this was Islamically-acceptable or not. However, he declined to give the fatwa, and simply said, ‘My fatwa in this regard won’t work. Instead, the paper money will.’ In such matters, this is the correct Islamic approach to adopt. The literal meaning of the word fatwa is ‘the expression of an opinion on a certain matter’. By its very nature there will always be the possibility of more than one opinion on any matter. On certain specific issues for which there is no clear guidance in the Quran and Sunnah, the Islamic The literal meaning of the word fatwa is ‘the expression of an opinion on a certain matter’. By its very nature, there will always be the possibility of more than one opinion on any matter.