Jordan Times
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Scholars assess fatwa issuance process
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN — Muftis and Muslim scholars convened on
Tuesday to define conditions for issuing fatwas, or religious edicts.
The symposium was organised by the Arab Bridge Centre for Development and Human
Rights, which has held a series of events to look into the issues discussed by
the Amman Message, which Jordan issued in 2004 to present the true image of
Islam to the rest of the world.
Amjad Shammout, the centre’s president, said the confusion over fatwa issuance
in the Muslim world had opened the way for extremists to step forward and
proclaim “disastrous” religious opinions that sanctioned killing innocent people
and destroying nations.
“Today, we are witnessing and hearing about the results of these dismal fatwas.
We see hands with blood on them, tragedies, massacres and attacks on properties
and lives,” said Shammout.
He urged scholars taking part in the event to pass on the Amman Message and
educate the public on the need to listen only to those who are qualified to be
muftis.
In his paper, professor of Islamic law at the University of Jordan, Ahmad
Awaisheh, discussed the nature of takfiri fatwas, which sanction violence
against Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
He said most of these fatwas have come as reactions by extremist groups to acts
by rulers and regimes. He said Islam does not recognise such edicts because they
do not meet the basic requirements of fatwa issuance, the most important of
which is objectivity.
Mufti of the Jordan Armed Forces Sheikh Abdul Karim Khasawneh highlighted the
traditions of fatwa as explained in Islamic references and the eligibility for
issuance.
A mufti, he said, should be trustworthy, reliable and well reputed in his
community, apart from being well-rounded in all Islamic sciences and related
topics, including having an excellent command of classical Arabic and a
knowledge of old poetry (which is sometimes used to explain vocabulary in the
Koran and Hadith, the Prophet Mohammad’s sayings).
In another paper, the mufti of the Public Security Department, Sheikh Mohammad
Kheir Issa, advocated “adopting a sound mechanism for iftaa (fatwa issuance)
based on knowledge... and solid evidence.”
He also called for rejecting “intruders” to this sphere and for spreading
awareness among youth so they can recognise genuine and qualified muftis.
Otherwise, he said, they would be listening to incompetent people, a matter that
would undermine the structure of the religion and add to disunity among the
members of the Muslim community.
A recent conference held by the Islamic Fiqh Academy said in its final
communiqué that fatwa issuance should be brought under control, ending a state
of chaos that fuelled violence by extremist groups in certain cases.
“No one should practise iftaa if he is not competent and qualified enough,” the
communiqué said, adding that fatwa issuance should be taught as a separate
Islamic discipline at universities.