The Fatwa Fallacy
07–09–2018, Mumbai, India: Calling it lunacy makes it easier to explain away the fatwas we don’t understand.
Good Morning Everyone. It’s The Friday Post on a warm Friday Morning. I have to admit I fiddled with the ideas of calling this piece “Let’s talk about fatwas” and using the phrase “F-word” somewhere in the title before choosing a bland alliterative one. This piece comes amid the banning of fatwas by an Indian High Court and is an attempt to explain what a fatwa is.
Setting the Context
The Latest “Fatwa” on the Bandwagon
The Uttarakhand High Court banned fatwas recently after a panchayat in Laksar near Roorkee asked a rape victim and her family to leave the village and threatened them against registering a complaint. The village panchayat, a kangaroo court system still enshrined in our constitution, has a role to play in the regular dispensation of quick resolutions for civil strife. The village panchayat, however, also has a role to play in upholding age-old systems of caste hierarchy and patriarchy in place. The above-mentioned appalling and shameful directive from the village panchayat was for some reason called a fatwa and the ridiculousness of the decision was cited by the High Court as the reason for banning fatwas.
The Fatwa Fiasco Flowchart
The furore over a fatwa follows predictable trends. There are, in general, two sequences of events.
- The first is where someone somewhere will ask a question of an Islamic scholar and the scholar’s answer will not fit the crowd’s perception of normal.
- The second is where some Muslim in a position imitating influence will say something that will not fit the crowd’s perception of normal.
In both cases, what follows is a careless misuse of the word fatwa and a few random posts here and there clarifying what exactly constitutes one.
Muslims across the world have gone hoarse condemning terrorism carried out in their name but no one listens to them; it, therefore, is little surprise that our explanation of fatwas in general and condemnation of silly ones goes unheard. This piece adds another to-be-forgotten voice to the entire discussion.
Brass Tacks
The Perception of a Fatwa
While fatwas have been around in the Islamic world since the start of the Islamic civilisation, it shot into the world’s collective conscience after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran, pronounced a sentence of death on Salman Rushdie for his book “Satanic Verses”. Since then, the word fatwa has been associated with a death sentence or a very severe sentence on someone for what will generally be considered a frivolous reason in the non-Muslim world. People associate persecution with a person against whom a fatwa is issued.
What a fatwa really is
Quite simply, it is just the Islamic opinion on a matter. You might have heard this definition. Most of my non-Muslim friends know the literal meaning of a fatwa but they fail to grasp what this really means. I will, therefore, use examples to help you understand the true magnitude of this.
- “Muslims should pray to God” is a fatwa. “Muslims should pray to God five times a day” is a fatwa.
- “Muslims cannot steal” is a fatwa. “Muslims cannot deceive by lying” is a fatwa. “Muslims should speak the truth” is a fatwa.
- “There are special prayers every Friday” is a fatwa. “Muslims should face the Kaa’ba while praying” is a fatwa. “While in a travelling vehicle, they can pray while facing any direction” is a fatwa. “They should wash their hands and face before praying if water is available” is a fatwa.
- “Muslims shouldn’t drink alcohol” is a fatwa. “The list of things we can eat” is a fatwa. “The list of things we cannot eat” is a fatwa.
This is what a fatwa is and what its true magnitude encompasses. It covers every aspect of our life. (One can, of course, contend a religion should not encompass all aspects of its followers’ lives.)
Why it is misunderstood
As explained, a fatwa is an Islamic opinion and hence it can sometimes be against the sensibilities of other people. There has been no dearth of fatwas that clearly seem to violate basic freedoms that non-Muslims and even Muslims take for granted. The best case in point will be the Rushdie fatwa itself. We are almost all used to the idea of freedom of speech and the very notion of someone getting a death penalty for saying something, no matter how sacrilegious or blasphemous, will be met with shock and disbelief. The media too has taken up the issue of a lot of such fatwas which belie common sensibilities. In a lot of these cases of media reporting on fatwas, I believe it was not a case of bad or biased journalism. The effect of such reporting has been that the non-Muslim world has misunderstood a fatwa.
However, a fatwa can be against the sensibilities of Muslims too. A lot of Muslims would also disagree with such controversial fatwa. They would themselves find such fatwa revolting and would protest against them. It makes sense too; if a fatwa is issued stating that a woman who was raped by her father-in-law is no longer her husband’s wife, it is bound to cause consternation. However, it’s not only such controversial fatwas that are met with apprehension. We disagree on some very simple things like whether to keep our hands tied above the navel or below it while praying.
What is meant by an Islamic opinion
Opinion and Islamic Opinion
Islamic opinion is very diverse and it can differ on many aspects of Muslim life. First, let us understand who can have an opinion on Islamic matters. The answer is technically everyone. Anyone who reads Islamic texts will have some opinion based on it and will interpret some law from it. If I see that the Quran asks me to do charity, I will form an opinion — maybe that charity is mandatory in Islam. However, a layman who has only read the Quran will not know as much as someone who has read and understood other sources of Islam, and this will bring us to the second aspect of understanding Islamic opinion — its sources.
The Sources of Islamic Jurisprudence
Islamic opinion has two major sources — the Quran and the Hadith. The Quran — Islam’s holy book — is the same for everyone. The Hadith — the sayings and actions of our Prophet (sallallaahualaihiwasallam) — however, are much debated with different schools of thought accepting some and rejecting the others as not being strong enough to be used while forming an opinion. Before this piece becomes a lecture in Islamic theology, I will stop. Suffice to say that there is a lot of debate about the primary sources themselves. People who have read and understood most of these primary sources and also secondary sources — the opinions of other scholars — are entitled to have Islamic opinions which will constitute a fatwa that would have some credibility. These scholars need to have studied under a guide who himself or herself has been a scholar. Such scholars are called Mufti and only they can pronounce an opinion which will be a fatwa.
Multiple Schools, Multiple Opinions
Since there are so many different schools of thoughts arising out of the varied and debated sources, there is always disagreement with most fatwas. As more and more modern aspects enter our lives, new sources arise based on the understanding of these scholars which will see more disagreement. Each of these disagreed-upon verdicts will constitute a fatwa.
What is the legal status of a fatwa?
In India, nothing.
Legal Standing in Muslim Countries
Even in Islamic countries, every fatwa will not have legal value. Most Islamic countries today will operate on the modern concepts of the judiciary. However, they might seek the opinion of Islamic scholars on many issues. Multiple scholars may give multiple answers and each of these is a fatwa; none of them has any legal value until it is accepted by a judge in a court. This was the case in earlier times too. There used to be a judge, a Qazi, for an area and he had to accept an opinion before implementing it. Some countries like Saudi Arabia have a fatwa council that constitutes a fatwa council which is like a committee that gets together and decides on issues before issuing a fatwa. This fatwa has a legal value because this council is appointed by the government.
The Situation in India
In India, Muslims follow multiple schools of thought. It is possible for two scholars of the same thought to have different opinions on the same matter and hence give two separate fatwas. Both will have no legal value unless a court decides to implement one. Such a scenario is not possible in India because courts decide based on our constitution and our penal code.
In the context of the ban on fatwas by the Uttarakhand High Court, scholars associated with Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband clarified their position. They questioned the possibility of banning a fatwa. A fatwa, as explained earlier, has no legal standing in the Indian law and hence there is no way one can ban it. The ban and its subsequent implementation will be wrangles that I hope don’t lead to more ludicrous outcomes.
IN CONCLUSION
I have here tried to make the idea of a fatwa more accessible. I am pretty sure they will still be maligned and misunderstood but this is just a humble attempt to make people understand what a fatwa really is. I hope I see a time when people really do understand. Till then, live long and prosper.
