Critical Analysis: Islamic Legal Interpretation, Muftis and Their Fatwas by Sehrish Saba, Nusrat Azeema (the read aloud family .txt) 📖

on Muslims’ attendance at Christmas celebrations”. The chapter is dealing with an important social issue of the day and a case study of Indonesia. The writer analyzed in the chapter how the fatwas reflects broad social issues and how the emergence of the fatwa is conditioned by its social surroundings.

The fatwa was issued by the Council of Indonesian Ulama’ (CIU), an elaborate discussion is made out here about the misconceptions among the Muslims that the Christmas celebrations are having no ritual value and there is no harm in participating in these celebrations as these promote tolerance and harmony among the people of different faith. The ulema council was of the opinion that participations in these celebrations could jeopardize the faith of Muslims and promotion of religious tolerance should be carried out through social activities, not in the area of theology and rituals. Muslims are required to cooperate with the non- Muslims on the basis of humanitarianism only. The chapter also included the reaction of the Indonesian government, the pressure inflicted upon CIU to revoke the fatwa and refusal of the CIU.

A Modern Indian Mufti

 

This chapter discusses about a modern mufti. Through this topic the writer mentioned the settlement of legal disputes among Muslims in India, which has two ways: firstly, they can either go to state- sponsored courts where they are allowed to be governed by the Muslim Personal Law which is a complex mixture of judge made legal compromises blended from a few translations, text books and precedent or secondly, they can opt for legal opinion from a mufti/ religious scholar known as fatwa.

The writer chose a fatwa on a mas’ala of endowment’s custodianship and through this presented the analysis of the observations of the individual mufti, the Islamic school he represents and the ways both interact with ordinary believers in Hyderabad, India. The writer took jami’a Nizamiyya to elaborate his research, presented its history and development as a fatwa giving institution, presentation and style adopted by the mufti of the jami’a and stuggle of the mufti to maintain the authority of the jami’a which is ultimately source of his own authority.

Mut’a: Regulating Sexuality and Gender Relations in Post Revolutionary Iran

 

Chapter twenty two is dealing with Mut’a: Regulating Sexuality and Gender Relations in Post revolutionary Iran. The writer is discussing about temporary marriages known as mut’a marriages to be taken as sexual license or activity of sexual control, the sunni shi’a dispute over the issue and traditional versus modern concepts regarding the issue. The writer presented firstly, the views of Ayatollah Khomeini, a religious and political leader of the Iran in post revolutionary era through his fatwas over the topic through which he presented his idea parted company with the prevailing shi’a view which allows women to arrange a mut’a marriage for themselves. Secondly, the response of the president Rafsanjani in the form of sermon cum- fatwa is presented who while ignoring the cultural stigmatization of temporary marriage by Ayatollah Khomeini drew on classical Shi’a religious law to sanction the contracting of a temporary marriage.

The Complementarity of Ifta’ and Qada’: Three Saudi Fatwas on Divorce

 

This chapter gathered three Saudi fatwas on divorce about the Complementarity of Ifta’ and Qada: The writer initially presented the process through which fatwas can be obtained from religious scholars in Saudi Arabia either privately or through public agencies established for this purpose. Then, writers choose three fatwas on the topic of divorce but in different contexts as talaq by oath, talaq uttered in anger and matter of pronouncement of triple divorce by a single expression.  

The writer presented the functional distinctions between the ifta (issuance of fatwa) and Qada (issuance of judgment) as method of applying law and as institutions. Investigation into both these types of institutions could lead to results altering certain long- standing western judgments about fiqh.

The Fatwa as an Instrument of Accommodation

 

This chapter is covering the topic of The Fatwa As an Instrument of Accommodation. Here, the writer examined the use of fatwa as an instrument to bring a semi- nomadic tribal society within the orbit of normative Islam. Although it is the primary responsibility of the judge (qadi) to apply the Shari’a to a nomadic, tribal society in the process of becoming sedentary, the role of mufti became important where the formalities of qadi’s office discourage the Bedouine from turning to Shari’a for help in settling their disputes.

To illustrate the issue the writer took the Bedouine of the Judean Desert who came under the jurisdiction of the Shari’a courts of Jerusalem and Bethlehem and provided the history and historical development of the institution of the ifta’ there. The Bedouine of the Judean Desert resort to both qadis and tribal arbitrators for settlement of their matters but in cases of personal status, the arbitrators gradually has been superseded by the institutionalized qadi.

In Jordan, muftis were linked to Shari’a courts and their status in hierarchy of religious scholars was lower than that of the qadis. In addition to appointed muftis, religious scholars (ulama) and jurists (fuqaha) also served as muftis without appointment in their private capacity.

The fatwa under discussion was taken from a mufti who was not affiliated with an institution rather was acting in a private capacity. Although the fatwa discussed with reference to Bedouin of the Judean Desert is discussing about the matter of suspended repudiation but the point of focus in the discussion remained the utilization of the fatwa as an instrument to bring the Bedouin closer to normative Islam.   

Postmortem Examination in Egypt

 

Chapter twenty-five is related to issue of Postmortem Examination in Egypt. While discussing the history of the topic writer mentioned that prior to twentieth century, Islamic philosophy and Islamic legal ethics were reluctant to discuss this topic and viewed that human body is a trust and not a private property but once postmortem became common practice throughout the world, Islamic law could not remain indifferent.

The writer selected the fatwa given by Hasanayn Muhammad Makhluf as represented example of Egyptian fatwas on the mid- twentieth century medical issues, which according to writer can be classified among those fatwas that helped to shape the national consensus on the subject.

The writer concluded that Makhluf and other Muftis who addressed the subject of postmortems engaged in complex legal reasoning to discover references in the Quran, Hadith and Shari’a indicating that God and His messenger gave preference to the promotion of health over religious obligations.

Tantawi on Banking Operations in Egypt

 This chapter is about Tantawi on Banking Operations in Egypt, which is redressing the complex issue of banking operations. The writer revealed the unique character of the fatwa issued by Tantawi, as the general form and style adopted in the fatwa place it squarely within the modern tradition of fatwa giving on the subject of banking, sated with citations from both classical and modern jurists. The writer concluded from the example of such a lengthy fatwa of Tantawi on such a complex issue that mufti in the late twentieth century Egypt recognizes the limitations of religious knowledge in the modern world and acknowledge the necessity of acquiring of knowledge regarding such modern issues.