The Fiqh Council of North America is an association of Muslims who interpret Islamic law on the North American continent.
Its 18 members issue religious rulings, resolve disputes, and answer questions relating to the Islamic faith. As outlined in its by-laws, the Council's primary objectives include: "To consider, from a Shari'ah perspective, and offer advice on specific undertakings, transactions, contracts, projects, or proposals, guaranteeing thereby that the dealings of North American Muslims fall within the parameters of what is permitted by the Shari'ah." The Council's opinions are not binding.[1] One of the Council's rulings was that it is permissible for a Muslim to attend a Thanksgiving celebration.[1]
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The Council's origins lie with the Religious Affairs Committee of the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada in the early 1960s. The Committee evolved into the Fiqh Committee of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) after ISNA was founded in 1980, and then into the Fiqh Council of North America in 1986. The Council is still affiliated with ISNA.[2]
In 2002 the Council was searched by federal agents as part of Operation Green Quest, a task force created to track and disrupt terrorist financing.[3] No arrests were made, and the Council denies any links to terror financiers, and has no official links to charities (the search was because a few board members publicly contributed to numerous Islamic charities in America and abroad).
The raids led to the convictions of two people, including Abdurahman Alamoudi, who worked for the SAAR Foundation. Alamoudi admitted that he plotted with Libya to assassinate the Saudi ruler and was sentenced to 23 years in jail.[4][5][6]
The fatwa did not specifically address terrorism against military targets during a war such as in Iraq, and there is no mechanism for civil enforcement of the fatwa.[7] Furthermore, it did not define "terrorism" or "civilians".[8]
Islam is a complete, comprehensive, inter-related and inter-dependent way of living. As such, criminal law is only one aspect of it, aiming at protecting individual and society. It pre-supposes the full implementation of its other aspects. Before meting punishments for crimes, Islamic law requires the removal of the causes of such crimes. For example, social and economic justice is means of crime prevention, as they remove the causes and motives of many crimes. Even when this is done, due process of Islamic Law must be followed, including strict rules of evidence and the absence of any doubt or extenuating circumstances (shubuhaat) surrounding the crime. Furthermore, Islamic law recognizes the rights of the heirs of the victim to demand punishment or forgive the murderer with or without monetary compensation (a feature which is lacking in current secular Western criminal laws). Numerous reports point out to the presence of biases and inequalities in the implementation of capital punishment in the USA (especially due to racism). Therefore the FCNA (an affiliate of ISNA) supports an interim moratorium on capital punishment in cases where there is no coerced confession or in the absence of any shubuhaat in the Islamic legal sense (Fiqh). Meanwhile, all measures must be taken to deal with the problem of the roots by removing such inequities and biases. [9]
Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, a University of California law professor, said in 2001 that the Council lacked authority among Muslims in the US.[1]
Executive Committee:
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman
Shaikh Muhammad Nur Abdullah, Vice Chairman
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Executive Director
Dr. Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh
Dr. Jamal Badawi
Dr. Ihsan Bagby
Shaikh Abdur Rahman Khan
Members:
Dr. Deina Abdelkader
Dr. Muhammad Akbar
Mrs. Zainab Alwani
Dr. Muneer Fareed
Shaikh Mohammed al-Hanooti
Imam Yahya Hendi
Dr. Yusuf Z. Kavakci
Dr. Muhammad Qatanani
Imam Hassan Qazwini
Dr. Ahmad Shleibak
(updated as of Jan 2009[10]