Muzayyeni, the dean of the Higher Institute of the Judiciary at Imam Muhammad Bin Saud University, has said that the inclusion of issues such as the marriage of minors and genealogical compatibility in marriage in the new fiqh curricula “does not mean they are recognized or approved”. According to Al-Muzayyeni, the fiqh jurisprudential curricula look at “all Shariah views and the predominant fiqh view”. “It is evident for example that marriage to minors is permissible and not forbidden in Shariah, but it is for the guardian parent to set the age for marriage,” he said. Al-Muzayyeni said the institute sought to have judges “keep pace with contemporary issues and surrounding events to respond and find solutions to them”. “Anything new on a given issue is included in the programs and we try to deal with them through complementary research done by students at the institute,” he said. Student research is made available to judges to assist them, he added, with most research handling issues through the “framework of a general understanding”, such as in the case of family issues. “We at the institute are not influenced by the media or the public,” he said. “We rely on our programs on following the Shariah guide and in some issues of contention predominant jurisprudential views, as we study comparative fiqh and don't require of students that they follow any particular view.” Al-Muzayyeni noted that discussions by the media and the public on some issues differ from Shariah views and that the institute informs new judges that it is “for the parents to use their judgment in some controversial cases which only they can resolve”.
