Guidelines for Changing Fatwa

In Allah's name, Compassionate, Merciful.

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

And blessings and peace be upon the best of prophets and messengers.

Our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and upon his family and all his Companions.

At the beginning of this seminar, I praise Allah ﷻ.

for making this blessed gathering possible for us

in the Mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

I also extend my thanks and prayers.

to the Custodian of the Haramain, King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

for his gracious patronage.

For this blessed seminar.

Thanks as well to him, HA

and to His Highness the Crown Prince for their care

for all that uplifts Islam and Muslims.

And special care for the Holy Haramain.

I also extend thanks to the Presidency of Religious Affairs.

at the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque.

headed by His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sudais.

And all those working in this presidency.

I am also honored in this gathering to be with our shaykh.

His Excellency Sheikh Salih bin Abdulaziz Aal al-Shaykh.

from whose knowledge I benefited greatly, as well as from his

demeanor and guidance.

I ask Allah to reward him on our behalf with the best reward.

Since what is required in this meeting and in this seminar is brevity.

And to explain the most important points in the paper.

So I seek Allah's ﷻ help and hope to be granted success.

to present the most important points contained in this paper, as time allows.

In the submitted paper.

for the seminar, I found it appropriate to explain.

before mentioning the guidelines for changes in fatwa.

Some remarks that I consider important.

And they are as follows. The first point.

concerns the stability of Sharia rulings.

For among Allah's blessings on this Ummah.

that He perfected their religion and preserved it for them.

Allah ﷻ said, "Today I perfected your religion for you."

"And completed My favor upon you, and approved for you Islam as religion."

And this verse indicates Sharia's perfection and permanence.

It does not alter or change with the change of time.

and circumstances.

Therefore, Imam al-Zarkashi RH said.

Every ruling established for us by the word of Allah or His Messenger.

or by consensus or analogy it remains until the Day of Resurrection.

The second point.

The difference between the legal ruling and a fatwa.

The legal ruling.

As the scholars defined it, it is Allah ﷻ's address.

regarding accountable acts: demand, choice, or designation.

As for the fatwa, it is informing about the ruling of Allah ﷻ.

regarding a matter asked about in Sharia and clarifying it to the asker.

It is non-binding: applying the legal ruling to the asker's case.

Therefore, the Islamic Fiqh Academy defined it.

as stating the Sharia ruling when asked about it.

And it may be without a question: stating a ruling on a new case.

To correct people's situations and conduct.

And usually, a fatwa is what is tied to a particular situation.

And a specific issue for one person is exempted.

from a legal ruling. Thus, a fatwa applies the ruling to people's cases.

As for the third point, it concerns the definition of the guideline.

Scholars differed over the guideline's definition and concept, in two opinions.

The first is that the criterion equals the maxim, with no distinction.

The second defined the fiqh guideline as distinct from the legal maxim.

Among these definitions is that of Taj al-Din al-Subki, who said.

What is usually specific to one chapter and meant to

organize similar cases is called a guideline.

An example of that is: The default for water is purity.

Now, in the time left, I will mention to you key guidelines on changing fatwa.

The first guideline is that a changing fatwa be issued by specialists.

And the specialists are the scholars, councils, and bodies.

scholarly.

Thus, the scholar who issues fatwas.

Or a member of scholarly councils and bodies must be.

well-grounded in the Quran and the Sunnah, and Arabic sciences.

and possess the known conditions of ijtihad.

The second guideline: No fatwa may contradict the Quran and Sunnah.

The point is that the fatwa under review not be fixed by a text.

Sharia rulings established by the Quran and Sunnah do not change with time.

nor with changing circumstances. Rather, it is the fatwa itself.

changes based on Sharia grounds and causes and valid interests per Book and Sunnah.

So the fatwa must not change.

If the change goes against a text from the Noble Quran or a hadith.

a Prophetic hadith that is authentic and explicit,

or mutawatir, or definitive in meaning. The third guideline.

It must not oppose a matter agreed upon.

That is, the fatwa under review must not oppose an established consensus.

For the Ummah does not unite upon misguidance.

Thus, if the issue under review is one on which there is consensus,

among the Ummah, it is not reconsidered.

So whoever opposes the Ummah's consensus on a given issue,

His fatwa is deemed anomalous and is given no weight.

Hence, Imam al-Sarakhsi said.

Consensus yields certain knowledge, like a text.

Just as it is not permissible to leave the text for an opposing opinion.

Nor is it permissible to oppose consensus with an opinion.

that arises after consensus is established by its proof.

Therefore, consideration is given to issues related to changes in fatwa.

These are the issues where disagreement is permissible.

The fourth guideline: sound analogy.

This means the fatwa under consideration must rely on sound analogy.

Accordingly, a fatwa is not properly grounded

if the analogy rests on a non-Sharia basis.

or if there is a relevant difference in the analogy

between the original case and the new case.

or that the effective cause be unstable, ill-defined, and unsound.

Or if:

the precedent case is a specific case or state, not general.

The fifth guideline is to consider outcomes.

So that changing the fatwa does not lead to greater harms.

Considering outcomes means noting what an act leads to after it occurs.

what follows from it and the effects that result from it,

and it is based on a key principle: blocking the means.

It is related to examining the outcomes of the fatwa

when it changes, and the harms that result from it.

Imam al-Shatibi says of outcomes.

A difficult field for the mujtahid.

Yet it is sweet in taste and worth envying.

Proceeding according to the objectives of the Sharia.

The sixth guideline: a fatwa must not conflict with Sharia's objectives.

Using objectives when fatwas change is an important basis.

to apply Sharia rulings in light of their objectives.

Nor should it cause

a change in fatwa to clash with Sharia's objectives.

The objectives of Sharia are the basis for muftis in new cases and developments.

In every time and place, it is essential.

For every mufti and mujtahid to be aware of them.

Imam al-Shatibi said. The rank of ijtihad is attained.

Only by one with two qualities. One is understanding Sharia's objectives.

in full; and second, the ability to infer based on that understanding.

The seventh and final guideline.

that the fatwa takes into account changes in time, place, and circumstances.

And it is well known that times change.

This results in changes in circumstances and customs in each country.

Views also change from country to country

by locale.

And changes in custom are tied to changes in time.

So what was customary at one time may.

changes and is no longer deemed custom at another time.

Imam al-Qarafi says.

Applying custom-based rulings when customs change is against consensus.

and ignorance in religion. Rather, all.

Everything in Sharia follows custom.

The ruling therein changes when customs change to what they require.

the newly arisen custom.

Then he said, "It is not even required that the custom change.

Rather, even if we left that land

for another land whose customs differ from those of our former land.

we would issue fatwas by their land's custom,

not our former land's.

Likewise, if someone comes to us from a land whose custom is opposed.

to the land we are in, we would not issue him a fatwa.

Only according to his land's custom, not our land's custom.

End of his statement. RH.

A mufti must also examine an issue of changing time, place, state, custom.

Therein: the benefits and maximizing them.

and averting harms and minimizing them.

This is a summary of the paper I presented at the seminar.

Thank you for your attentive listening.

May Allah's peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

[Birds chirping.]