بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
What is the meaning of a fatwā
Al-Azharī said:… it is said: The man gave a fatwā in the matter, and I sought a fatwā from him… it is said: I gave someone a fatwā regarding a vision he saw when I interpreted it for him, and I gave him a fatwā in his question when I answered him about it. (Tahdhīb al-Lughā 3/2731)
Ibn Mandhūr said:… It is said: aftā in the matter – yuftīhi when he answers him, and the noun is fatwā. (Lisān 7/23)
al-Qarāfī said: “Fatwā: is informing about the ruling of Allāh, The Most-High, regarding obligation/what is binding or permission.” (al-Furūq 4/35)
al-Buhūtī said: “Clarifying the Sharī’ah (legal) ruling for the one who asks about it.” (Sharh Muntahā al-Irādāt 3/483)
In al-Mawsū al-Fiqhiyyah, it is said: “Informing about the ruling of Allāh, The Most-High, regarding Shar’ī (legal) incidents based on evidence.” (al-Mawsū’ah al-Fiqhiyyah 32/20)
Ibn Salāh said: “… it was said regarding al-futyā: that it is signing on behalf of Allāh, The Blessed and Most-High.” (Kitāb Adab al-Muftī pg. 72)
The prohibition on speaking about Allāh and his religion without knowledge
Allāh says:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ كُلُواْ مِمَّا فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ حَلَٰلٗا طَيِّبٗا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُواْ خُطُوَٰتِ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمۡ عَدُوّٞ مُّبِينٌ. إِنَّمَا يَأۡمُرُكُم بِٱلسُّوٓءِ وَٱلۡفَحۡشَآءِ وَأَن تَقُولُواْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ
O people! Eat from what is on the earth, halāl and pure/good (tayyib), and do not follow the footsteps of ash-Shaytān (the devil). Indeed, he is for you a clear enemy. He only commands you with evil and indecency/immorality, and that you say about Allāh what you do not know.” (al-Baqarah 2:168-169)
Abū Hayyān said: “al-Zamakhsharī said: ‘It is their saying “this is halāl and this is harām” without knowledge, and it includes everything that is attributed to Allāh of what is not permissible regarding Him.’ End quote.
It was said: And the apparent meaning of this is the prohibition of speaking about the religion of Allāh with what the speaker does not know (i.e. lacks knowledge of) from the religion of Allāh. So this includes opinion, analogies, doubtful matters, and juristic preference/discretion.” (al-Bahr al-Muhīt 2/102)
How the Imāms of the Salaf were when it came to issuing fatāwās/verdicts
‘Abd ar-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylāh said: “I encountered one hundred and twenty from the Ansār (the helpers) from among the companions of the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ). One of them would be asked about a matter/issue, so he would turn it away to this one, and this one to this one, until it would return (back) to the first one.” (Kitāb al-Madkhal ilā as-Sunan al-Kubrā pg. 433)
Abū Husayn said: “Indeed, one of them gives a fatwā in a matter/issue and if it had come to ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb (رضي الله عنه), he would have gathered for it the people of Badr.” (Kitāb al-Madkhal ilā as-Sunan al-Kubrā pg. 434)
Muhammad ibn Sīrīn said: “That a man dies ignorant is better than that he says (about something) what he does not know.” (Kitāb al-Madkhal ilā as-Sunan al-Kubrā pg. 434)
Abd al-Malik ibn Abī Sulaymān said: Sa’īd ibn Jubayr was asked about something, so he said: “I do not know.” Then he said: “Woe to whoever says to what he does not know: ‘Indeed I know.'” (Kitāb al-Madkhal ilā as-Sunan al-Kubrā pg. 435)
Haytham ibn Jamīl he said: “I witnessed Mālik ibn Anas being asked about forty-eight matters/issues, and he said regarding thirty-two of them: ‘I do not know.” (Kitāb Adab al-Muftī pg. 79 of Ibn Salāh)
Sufyān al-Thawrī said: “I encountered the jurists and they dislike that they answer in matters/issues and fatwā, and they do not give fatwās until they find no alternative but to give fatwās.” (Akhlāq al-‘Ulamā’ of al-Ājurrī 1/102)
Who can issue a fatwā
Shaykh Ibn Bāz was asked:
Who are the (qualified) of (issuing) fatwā (ahl al-fatwā) whom general Muslims must take (from)? We have a brother in Allāh (i.e. in faith) who is a believing Muslim with good conduct in religion and in socially/general life, but he is not deeply knowledgeable in religion to the degree that he can issue fatwās. In some matters he gives us fatwās and says: “This is on my responsibility.” Should we take his fatwā or not, and does he have the right to issue fatwās or not?
ANSWER:
The people (qualified) of (issuing) fatwā (ahl al-fatwā) are those who have gained deep understanding in the Book of Allāh and the Sunnah of His Messenger (ﷺ), and who have acquired good/sound knowledge of what Allāh has made permissible (halāl), what Allāh has forbidden (harām), and what Allāh has made obligatory. And the people of knowledge (i.e. scholars), jurisprudence (fiqh) (i.e. jurists), and righteousness have testified to their knowledge and that they are qualified to issue fatwās.
It is not appropriate to seek fatwās from just anyone, even if they claim affiliation to religion, worship, or knowledge, until the people of knowledge are asked about them. The inquirer should seek insight through those who know them well and whom he trusts as people of knowledge, so they can inform him that this person is qualified for fatwā and qualified to issue rulings on the permissible (halāl) and forbidden (harām) and similar matters.
The point is that this (issue of who can give/whom fatāwā is sought from) requires verification and careful consideration, not laxity. Not everyone who claims affiliation to religion, worship, or knowledge is suitable for this. Rather, there must be jurisprudence (fiqh) in religion and insight, there must be piety (wara’) and fear of Allāh (taqwā), and there must be caution against being lenient in fatwā and being bold in (issuing) it without knowledge and without right. And there is no strength or power except with Allāh.
Ibn Salāh said:
The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets.”
So He established for the scholars a special characteristic through which they surpassed the rest of the ummah. And what they are engaged in regarding the matter of fatwā clarifies their attainment of that for the one seeking clarification. And for that reason it was said regarding al-futyā: that it is signing on behalf of Allāh, Blessed and Most-High. (Kitāb Adab al-Muftī pg. 72)
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