FATWA ACTIVISM
Self-styled Shariah
THERE 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.
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
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 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.
Instead of the fatwa used as an expression of opinion, it is employed for the enforcement of a command.
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.
The question then arises as to what the proper Islamic method of social reform is. This proper method is one of persuasion and guidance, through writings and lectures, and not through delivering condemnatory fatwas. People should be addressed in such a way that the advice given to them impresses itself in their hearts and they then recognize and act on that advice on their own. In today’s terms, this could be termed as ‘educational activism’. Islam’s approach to solving social ills is through this sort of educational activism, rather than ‘fatwa activism’.
A guiding principle in this matter is to be found in a narration which is contained in the Sahih al-Bukhari. According to this report, Aisha (wife of the Prophet) said that the Quranic verses that were revealed in the initial stages of Islam dealt with Heaven and Hell so that in this way people’s hearts would be softened enough to receive the Islamic message. Then, gradually, after people had developed adequate capacity to accept Divine laws, the Quranic commandments prohibiting adultery and the consumption of alcohol were revealed. Had these commandments been revealed in the initial stages of Islam, people may not have accepted them, and, instead, might have refused to give up adultery and alcohol.
People do not understand the wisdom in the Shariah, instead they engage in a selfstyled Shariah of fatwas.
From this instance one can understand that in general social reform cannot happen through delivering fatwas against social ills. Rather, for this sort of work, people’s capacity and willingness to accept and act on divine guidance must first be developed. Only after this can religious laws be enforced. To issue orders, in the form of fatwas, in the absence of developing people’s capacity to accept religious guidance is no solution at all. Often, it is not the ignorance of religious rulings that causes social ills. Rather, the basic cause is the lack of the appropriate spirit among people.
This is why social reform cannot begin with the issuing of fatwas. It has to begin with work towards inculcating and promoting the right spirit among people to ignite their consciousness and their capacity and willingness to abide by the teachings of the faith. Only after this work has been sufficiently done should issues be explained to people using the language of the religious law. Without developing this inner spirit among people, seeking to cure social ills by issuing fatwas from without would be of no use. This is putting the cart before the horse.
When a person fails to find a solution to the matter in the guidance available through deliberation in the Quran and Sunnah, he resorts to the gun of fatwa to reach his ends.
The only criterion for judging ‘fatwa activism’, or, for that matter, any other form of activism, is its efficacy in producing the expected results. Only those methods of activism are worthwhile that actually succeed in achieving their goals. Action must always be resultoriented. The present-form of ‘fatwa activism’ must be seen and evaluated in the light of this basic principle.