FATWA ACTIVISM

scholars (ulema) express by means of ijtihad—the exercise of judgement by sound reasoning—their opinion on the matter in question. This is regarded as a fatwa. Nowadays, fatwas are used in a completely improper manner. Instead of a fatwa used as an expression of opinion, it is employed for the enforcement of a command. People do not understand the wisdom in the Shariah. Instead they engage in a self-styled Shariah of fatwas. With the changing times, wisdom demands that the fatwa’s also change accordingly. However, today the fatwa is often used against others like a gun with the fatwa fired at them. As a result, when a person fails to find a solution to a matter in the guidance available through deliberation in the Quran and Sunnah, he resorts to the gun of fatwa to reach his ends. A fatwa can take two forms. The first is in the form of a question asked to a mufti— an Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law—by a person with a regard to a matter directly concerning himself and with the intention of gaining guidance thereby. The second way of eliciting a fatwa relates to a particular social evil in the wider society, regarding which an individual approaches a mufti for a fatwa on his own. It is not proper for the mufti to give a fatwa in response to this sort of question. If he does so, the fatwa is unlikely to have any positive role or influence in correcting the social ill that it seeks to address. Instead, it can turn out to be a cause for giving Islam a bad name. This has happened in numerous cases. To paraphrase the words of Maulana Abdul Haq Haqqani such fatwas did not work and the social ills they sought to combat remained as before. Thus, scores of fatwas have been delivered on a variety of social ills, against biddat or innovations in religion, against dowry, english education, bank deposits etc. But, needless to say, all these fatwas proved to be of little or no effect. According to Islam the right methodology with regard to fatwas is that a person seeking an answer to a personal question should approach a mufti for a fatwa. A mufti should issue fatwas only in such cases. A fatwa must not be asked or issued when the matter does not directly concern the person who requests it. Instead of the fatwa used as an expression of opinion, it is employed for the enforcement of a command.