Fatwas, or religious edicts, are supposed to be issued by qualified religious figures regarding religious doctrine or law. Generally, these edicts are to help Muslims refine their relationship with God by proscribing appropriate behaviour on earth. As the number and types of communications media have increased in recent years, however, the number of Fatwas issued have increased and according to many, those issuing them are increasingly unqualified to do so. And even a few of those clearly qualified to do so have shown a tendency to veer away from the religious and in the direction of the political. The most recent and one of the sharpest criticisms came from Mshari Al-Zaidi, a leading columnist from Asharq Al-Awsat, who took the Egyptian cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi to task for making purely political statements such as one attacking Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Qaradawi reportedly said that Abbas should be punished “by stoning him to death.” Al-Zaidi went on to write that “I wish our scholars and preachers would calm down a little and focus on explaining jurisprudence and reviving the moral principles of faith rather than getting involved in political wrangling.” The secretary general of the Makkah-based Muslim World League, Abullah Al-Turki, explained at the end of a conference held a year ago to examine the proliferation of Fatwas, “Issuing a fatwa is a very serious matter as it involves making a decision on the basis of the law laid down by Allah and explained by the Prophet (peace be upon him).” Based on that explanation, fatwas clearly are not to be issued lightly nor should they be taken lightly. But it unfortunately falls to the individual Muslim to discern the difference between a fatwa that has been issued after a genuine examination of the relevant foundations for issuing fatwas and a personal opinion expressed in a fit of pique. __
