European Council for Fatwa and Research

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A Dublin-based private foundation, founded in London on 29 March - 30 March 1997 on the initiative of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe, the European Council for Fatwa and Research ('ECFR') is a largely self-selected body, composed by Islamic clerics and scholars, presided by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and considered as belonging to the islamist tendency within the Islamic world community, the Ummah.

1 Statutory ambitions
2 Evaluation of the positions of the ECFR
3 Cooperation with other Islamic organisations in Europe:
4 Members of the ECFR
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Statutory ambitions

The ECFR aims "to present to the Muslim World and the Muslim minorities in the West particularly" [1] its interpretation of "the manifestation of Allah's infinite mercy, knowledge and wisdom". For the ECFR, the shariah clearly embodies the superior rules in life. The sharia should therefore be respected as superior to civil law and to the democracy: "the Shari'ah cannot be amended to conform to changing human values and standards, rather, it is the absolute norm to which all human values and conduct must conform; it is the frame to which they must be referred; it is the scale on which they must be weighed." [2].

It wants to achieve these through:

bringing together Islamic scholars who live in Europe
attempting to unify the jurisprudence views between them in regards with the main Fiqh (islamic law) issues, especially with regard to the minority stats of Muslims in Europe;
issue collective fatwas which meet the needs of Muslims in Europe, solve their problems and regulate their interaction with the European communities, all according the shariah;
research how arising issues in Europe can be resolved with strict respect for the shariah.

The ECFR is one of the main channels for the publications of fatwa's by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and his main English-language channel.

Among others, it wants to promote, and control, the local education of native imam's for the Muslim minorities in European countries. Amongst others, it participates in such initiatives in France (in cooperation with the European Institute for Humanitarian and Islamic Studies and the United Kingdom.

It also strives to become an approved religious authority before local governments and private establishments in all countries where Muslims are a minority.

[edit] Evaluation of the positions of the ECFR

The ECFR clearly wants to assume a leading role in all dogmatic and accordingly also in all worldly issues in the worldwide Islamic community, the Ummah. Among others, it wants to address the younger Muslim generations living in outside Islamic countries, especially those in Europe and the United States. It wants to project a relatively contemporary position, all through it is heavily criticized for some very undemocratic and non-contemporary positions:

Its fatwas often rely on the four classical Islamic law schools (four schools of Fiqh), as well as all other schools of the people of Islamic law (Fiqh) knowledge, although with exclusion of modernist Islamic scholars in Europe as French great-imam from Marseille, Soheib Bencheikh and Zaki Badawi, president of the London-based Muslim College and a keen promotor of interfaith dialogue (among other publishing regularly together with the Archbishop of York and the British Chief Rabbi).
It regularly pleads for mutual respect for non-Muslims.
It pleads respect for civil procedures; e.g. marriage is considered valid only if the rights of both spouses are respected and if the civil procedure is followed to (any marriage which is conducted purely in the mosque is not considered Islamic).

Aside from the exclusion of non-Sunni Muslims, and more importantly, other people criticize the ECFR for its fierce refusal to accept separation of church and state, and several other principles of democracy. The fatwa's of he ECFR's chairmain, Yussuf al-Qaradawi, are clear on how this tendency in Islam sees democracy and universal human rights:

On the separation of state and church (secularism): "Since Islam is a comprehensive system of `Ibadah (worship) and Shari'ah (legislation), the acceptance of secularism means abandonment of Shari'ah, a denial of the Divine guidance and a rejection of Allah’s injunctions. (...) the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of Shari'ah is a downright apostasy." [3]. At the same time, he appears to know very well this is a crucial element in democracy.

On equal rights for women: "Those misguided people cudgel their brains in finding out lame arguments that tend to give both males and females equal shares of inheritance." [4].

On democracy -where per definition a majority vote might differ from the commands in the Qur'an and Sunnah,: "the Shari'ah cannot be amended to conform to changing human values and standards, rather, it is the absolute norm to which all human values and conduct must conform ..." [5].

On the freedom of religion: "All Muslim jurists agree that the apostate is to be punished. However, they differ regarding the punishment itself. The majority of them go for killing; meaning that an apostate is to be sentenced to death." [6].