Religion
A fatwa for every occasion
Published 02 August 2007
The Muslim world has gone fatwa-mad. Or rather, it has gone mad through fatwas. From Egypt to Pakistan, learned and not-so-learned sheikhs and imams are issuing fatwas on everything, from who can be just ifiably killed to whose breasts you are allowed to suck. Fatwas are being announced on satellite channel phone-ins, on dedicated websites and by special committees set up by radical and terrorist organisations. Nothing, it seems, is out of bounds or too absurd to be the subject of a fatwa.
A fatwa is a legal statement issued by a qualified jurist. But it is not a binding legal edict. As an opinion of an individual religious authority, it can be accepted or dismissed, depending on one's own inclinations. Most fatwas are based on the teachings of the established schools of Islamic jurisprudence - four if you are Sunni, two if you are Shia, six if, like me, you want a slightly bigger shopping mall to find a suitable product.
On the whole, fatwas have served a useful purpose in Muslim societies. They have been used to settle disputes in marriage, divorce and inheritance or to provide guidance on certain matters of ritual. Their function was to promote social harmony. They were never, and never were meant to be, instruments of power.
But all this changed on 14 February 1989. Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie not only introduced the term to the west, it also transformed it into a powerful device. From simple opinions based on obscur antist law, fatwas became ideological tools that could be used rather effectively against your enemies. Where Khomeini led, all sorts of ignorant and semi-literate mullahs followed. Fatwas have become an essential weapon of ideological war.
The fatwa issued in December by a cleric in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province provides a good example. Posted on walls in the town of Darra Adam Khel, it described all human rights organisations, including the Red Cross, as agents of "the Jews and the west". It urged Muslims to target such groups as a duty, by murdering members, destroying their homes, burning their vehicles and seizing their assets.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, it is one of countless fatwas to emerge from NWFP targeting human rights organisations and activists, particularly women. The fatwa posted on the website of the top Saudi cleric Abdul Rahman al-Barak gives an insight into the ideological nature of these declarations. A close confidant of the royal family, Barak issued his edict in January, just after Saudi officials expressed concern at "Iranian-backed Shia militias butchering Iraqi Sunnis". Barak describes the Shias as "the most evil sect" and implies that their killing can be justified.
On the Indian subcontinent, fatwas are used as weapons against the marginalised. The powerful obtain fatwas to harass the less pri vileged. Sunnis use fatwas to persecute Shias, minority sects and Christians; chauvinists use them to oppress women. In most cases, the spurious nature of these fatwas is all too evident. But some fatwas aim to find innovative solutions to theo logical dilemmas. What, for example, are pious Muslims to do with men and women mixing freely in a modern office, given Islam's clear ruling that adults must be kept segregated?
Dr Izat Atiyah of Cairo's al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution, issued a fatwa that solves the problem. Women working in offices with men should breastfeed them - five times. This would enable women to take off their veils and expose their hair to strange men, and so treat them as family. "Breastfeeding an adult puts an end to the problem," Dr Atiyah declares triumphantly.
Why worry about Islamophobia and those who paint Islam in all the colours of darkness? Some Muslims do a good enough job of making a mockery of Islam themselves, thank you!
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
