Q3. “But there is a fatwah for it” is a common argument of Muslims today to embrace a new, unconventional position in Islam. Is this argument right?
Answer:
This is religious version of saying, “But there is another way to look at it.” In fact, it is worse than that as it faults the wisdom and knowledge of God. Such people, in essence, assert:
God and His messenger gave rules based on the limited nature (reality) or knowledge
of a problem that was known 14 centuries ago. But, with the passing of time, the nature
of a problem keeps evolving, or humans acquire more knowledge about it. Therefore, in
the changed circumstances, it is right that religious scholars re-interpret God’s laws and
the Sunnah (the ways of following set by the Prophet) so as to appropriate them to the
requirements of the time.
In plain words, the above argument says that the scholars can modify divine laws with time. This trend is in violation of Qur’anic teaching:
Qur’anic laws are FINAL, i.e. valid and unamendable, till the end of this world.
God, being all-knowing, gave the final laws considering the nature of problems
until the end times, and did not base them on the limited natures that were 14
centuries ago. As a matter of fact, the core reality (nature) of a problem does not
change in time.
A Fatwah is valid in Islam only if it does not alter a Qur’anic or Prophetic regulation or criterion.