Excessive Fatwas (COVID, PUBG)

Bismillah hir Rahman Nir Raheem

My Lord, expand for me my chest [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech. Ameen

A few days back one of my friends posted a status regarding one of the most played games these days PUBG (used to play it, not anymore found it a bit boring 😅) , one of the biggest madrasa of our country had given a Fatwa on this game that this game is haram and those who play this game are no more Muslims and their Nikkah are nullified and they should recite the Kalima again and get their nikkah renewed (of course by them because only they can do it, an opportunity to fill their pockets 😒). The reason they had considered it haram was because according to them the players need power and in the game they worship an idol to become stronger and all that and it constitutes shirk so its haram. I was like which game are they talking about, I used to play it like long time ago so I asked one of my friend is there any new update with a new feature that they are talking about. It turned out there wasn't anything of such sort, once before I read a similar post of my friend related to this and I searched it. It was one of the hackers his username was similar to one of the so called greek gods, players could pay him some money to rig their games and make them stronger but eventually they would be blocked out of the game. 

So my point about writing all this is to talk about fatwas. What are fatwas? for a normal person  there are levels when a person is studying in a madrasa, he becomes an Alim I don't remember the original hierarchy but in the end a person becomes Mufti and his words are considered fatwa or in simple words, if a case/question comes to a mufti his saying on the matter is called fatwa and only Muftis can give fatwas. Now I am not against Fatwas but to give a Fatwa a Mufti should have the knowledge on that subject matter and shouldn't just give a Fatwa because he is a Mufti. This is also one of the reason why Mufti's should not only rely on Madrasa knowledge our Madrasa's should teach advance knowledge as well, some of them do but rarely like I saw a video of Madrasa students working on Arduino and Raspberry Pi.

I remember there was a time my father used to tell stories that his friends from SWAT once told him that TTP gave a fatwa that one should let the beard grow and not trim it or do anything with it. He said, if for example you are travelling with your family some group of people would stop your car and would check the length of the beard if it was small they would beat you in front of your family.  This is not Islam.

Then there was once a funeral of a Shia family and some Sunni people attended the funeral and a so called Maulvi (maulvi giving fatwa) gave a fatwa that you sunnis are no longer muslims your nikkah are invalid and all that crap.

In an Islamic State in my opinion this fatwa giving authority should be with the state rather than everyone giving fatwas according to their own likings, like it comes ina Hadith that Prophet SAW used to love pumpkin (kadu) now they say that if you don't say kadu shareef you are committing blasphemy. I am like was the Islam revealed on Prophet SAW or on them?! 🤦

Then there are matters that require Ijtihad and Ijtihaad is only for those matters that are new meaning that were not present at the time of Prophet SAW or if a new situation arises like this Pandemic and question arises how to pray Salah in these times then one can seek the ijtihad it is also in the form of fatwa. The thing about Ijtihaad is that one is not obliged to follow it as Quran and Sunnah are followed. It's up to a person whether to follow it or not.

Let's talk a little on the matter of prayer during pandemic too.

Firstly Allah says 

...so O people, ask the people of knowledge if you do not know.

[An Nahl 16:43]

In case of pandemic people of knowledge are not muftis or maulvis but micro/molecular biologist or doctors are the one. They will tell us what needs to be done then the Muftis will give their fatwas accordingly. It's not like that a mufti say that we are muslim this pandemic is not for us and it won't harm us so no problem just pray or be normal that won't do.

Well for those who say that this pandemic is for non muslims it won't harm us. Allah says in Quran:

And fear a trial which will not strike those who have wronged among you exclusively, and know that Allah is severe in penalty.

[Al Anfal 8:25]

For those who thinks that it is against their 'Taqwa' to pray Salah with 6 feet part or by wearing mask or even in severe conditions praying at home. Allah says:

...and let not your own hands throw you into destruction...

[Al Baqara 2:195]

and those who say that Salah cannot be prayed like this Prophet SAW ordered that while praying in congregation one should stand shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot Sahih Bukhari  725. These orders are under normal conditions. Allah says in Quran

And if you are in fear, pray while on foot or while riding, as you can; when you are in peace remember Allah the way He has taught you..

[Al Baqara 2:239]   

In Ijtihad there is a term known as Qiyas which we think is the Qiyas of Urdu, to clarify its not, the meaning are quite different the Qiyas of Urdu means to give opinion to whatever comes to mind or in Punjabi it is said 'Tayy-waa lana'. In Islamic sharia Qiyas is something different, when a matter comes to you and it didn't happened at the time of Prophet SAW then you look into it and start to see its similarities with any of the Prophet's teaching and give the ruling according to that. Most importantly it is to be done on matters which didn't happened at the time of Prophet SAW. If there is a matter and a Prophet SAW gave his clear cut verdict on it one cannot ask for a fatwa on that matter.

Allah says in Quran:

It does not behove a believer, male or female, that when Allah and His Messenger have decided an affair they should exercise their choice. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has strayed to manifest error.

[Al Ahzab 33:36]

Then there is another thing known as fatwa shopping below is a small lecture of Omar Suleiman.

Give Fatwas but on the topic which you are qualified for.

O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it. Ameen