Glossary
Fatwa
A scholar's or council's formal answer to a religious question.
فتوىfatwā
A fatwa is a considered legal opinion. It is not automatically law: it binds those who accept the authority of the body that issued it, and it can be contradicted by another body. That is exactly what has happened on credit cards, where the OIC Fiqh Academy, AAOIFI, DSN-MUI, Bank Negara's SAC and individual bank Shariah committees have reached different conclusions on overlapping questions. AAOIFI devotes Shariah Standard No. 29 to the stipulations and ethics of fatwa in the institutional framework.
Related terms
Shariah boardThe panel of scholars inside a bank that decides whether its products are religiously acceptable.ISSCInternal Shariah Supervision Committee: the in-house scholar panel required at Islamic banks in some countries, notably the UAE.SACShariah Advisory Council: Malaysia's national body whose rulings on Islamic finance bind the industry and are a reference for the courts.AAOIFIThe Bahrain-based body that writes the standards most Islamic banks are measured against.IIFAThe International Islamic Fiqh Academy, the OIC's own council of scholars, whose resolutions carry great weight across the Muslim world.DSN-MUIIndonesia's National Shariah Board, part of the Indonesian Ulema Council, which issues the fatwas Indonesian Islamic banks follow.
Sources
- AAOIFI Shariah Standard No. (29)