IslamQA.info

IslamQA is a website providing information regarding Islam in accordance with the Salafi school of thought.[1] It was founded by Muhammad Al-Munajjid and is the most popular Salafi website in the Arab-speaking world.[2]

Islamqa.info
Type of site
Islamic, Salafi, Legal/Religious
Available inArabic, English, Farsi, Japanese, Chinese, Uighur, French, Spanish, Indonesian, German, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, Urdu, Turkish and Bengali
Created byMuhammad Al-Munajid
URLhttp://islamqa.info
CommercialNo
Launched1997
Current statusActive

History

The service was one of the first online fatwa services, if not the first.[3] The launching of IslamQA.info in 1997 by Muhammad Al-Munajjid marked the beginning of an attempt to answer questions according to the Salafi school's interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.[3] The website states that "All questions and answers on this site have been prepared, approved, revised, edited, amended or annotated by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, the supervisor of this site."[4]

Contents

IslamQA is available in 16 languages, including English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, German, Bangla, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish, the website provides fatawa covering basic tenets of faith, etiquette and morals, Islamic history, and Islamic politics.[5]

The site describes itself in the following manner:

Islam Q&A is an academic, educational, da‘wah website which aims to offer advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts in an adequate and easy-to-understand manner... The website welcomes questions from everyone, Muslims and otherwise, about Islamic, psychological and social matters.[6]

The site's vision is to be "an encyclopaedia about Islam".[6] Its aims (as described on the website) are:

  1. To spread Islam and call people to it.
  2. To spread Islamic knowledge and dispel ignorance among Muslims.
  3. To respond to people’s needs by offering advice and answers based on evidence from religious texts.
  4. To refute the specious arguments of doubters about Islam.
  5. To advise people concerning day-to-day issues, by giving educational, academic advice about social and other matters.[6]

Methodology

The site describes its methodology as such:

The website promotes the ‘aqeedah (beliefs) of Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa‘ah and the followers of the righteous early generations of Islam (as-salaf as-saalih). It strives to ensure that the answers are based on evidence from the Holy Qur’an and the soundly-narrated (saheeh) prophetic Sunnah, and are taken from the writings of the scholars, including the imams of the four madhhabs, Imam Abu Haneefah, Imam Maalik, Imam ash-Shaafa‘i and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as well as other earlier and later scholars, and from the statements of fiqh councils and seekers of knowledge who conduct research in various Islamic specialties. The website avoids getting involved in issues that are of no benefit, such as empty arguments, trading insults and fruitless debates.[6]

Fatwas in the media

The fatwas on the website have been noted in Western English language news sources.[7][8]

Homosexuality

Al-Munajjid published a fatwa on homosexuality,[9] which he called "one of the greatest crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds".[10]

Houri

IslamQA has responded to a question, "Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn?" The IslamQA answer given, quoting Islamic hadiths and scholars, is "yes".[11] This answer has been criticized by Agoravox which has said this could encourage those who, "think that if they die and go to heaven they will have superb apparently virgin women . . who will wait for them to live an eternity of happiness".[12]

Slavery

One of IslamQA's fatwas on slavery — specifically of men having sex with female slaves — has been noted in the media as one of many similar fatwas published by Islamic scholars on the role of women in Islam. The fatwa was quoted stating that a Muslim wife "has no right to object to her husband owning female slaves or to his having intercourse with them [...] The scholars are unanimous in this assessment, and no one is permitted to view this act as forbidden, or to forbid it. Whoever does so is a sinner, and is acting against the consensus of the scholars."[13][14]

Women

The fact-checking website Punditfact mentioned Al-Munajjid's justification for why women should not drive, as published on IslamQA.info, when deciding the factual accuracy of the claim that Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim-majority nation that did not allow women to drive.[7] The fatwa was quoted saying: "It is well known that (driving) leads to evil consequences which are well known to those who promote it, such as being alone with a non-mahram (marriageable) woman, unveiling, reckless mixing with men, and committing haraam (sinful) actions because of which these things were forbidden."[7][15] The article has been removed from the website. The ban on driving in Saudi Arabia has been lifted.[16]

Controversy in Saudi Arabia

The website was banned in Saudi Arabia because it was issuing independent fatwas. In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's Council of Senior Scholars has sole responsibility for issuing fatwas.[17] The Council was granted this exclusive authority to issue fatwas by a royal edict issued in August 2010 (while restrictions had been in place since 2005, they were seldom enforced); this move was described by Christopher Boucek as "the latest example of how the state is working to assert its primacy over the country’s religious establishment."[18]

See also

References
  1. Richard Gauvain (2013). Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God. Routledge. p. 335. ISBN 9780710313560.
  2. "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it" Deutsche Welle. 10.01.2016
  3. Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... macmillan. p. 207. ISBN 9780099523277.
  4. IslamQA.info website: "Introduction" Archived 2014-02-23 at the Wayback Machine retrieved September 17, 2016
  5. Jonathan Schanzer, Steven Miller, Facebook Fatwa: Saudi Clerics, Wahhabi Islam, and Social Media, p 51 -52. ISBN 9780981971261
  6. About Website islamqa.info About our site
  7. Greenberg, Jon (7 October 2014). "Obeidallah: Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim nation where women can't drive". Punditfact. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  8. Nomani, Asra Q.; Arafa, Hala (11 October 2015). "Inside the World of Gulf State Slavery". Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  9. "The punishment for homosexuality - islamqa.info". islamqa.info.
  10. MCCARTHY, ANDREW C. (14 August 2013). "Obama's Gay-Rights Hypocrisy". National Review. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. "Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn?". IslamQA. 30 August 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  12. "Are religions the enemies of peace". Agoravox. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  13. Knipp, Kersten (10 January 2016). "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it". DW. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. "Ruling on having intercourse with a slave woman when one has a wife - Islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
  15. "Does the ruling on driving a car vary from one country to another? - islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
  16. "Saudi Women Are Taking the Wheel as Longstanding Driving Ban Ends". Time. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  17. "Saudi Arabia blocks 'Islam Question and Answer'," Al Arabiya (in Arabic), September 2, 2010
  18. Christopher Boucek, "Saudi Fatwa Restrictions and the State-Clerical Relationship," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 27, 2010 (accessed November 18, 2013).
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