Mufti

This article is about an Islamic scholar. Mufti can also refer to civilian dress.

A mufti (Arabic: مفتي‎, muftī, Turkish: müftü) is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law (Sharia).^[1] In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population. A muftiat or diyanet is a council of muftis.

Qualifications

A Mufti will generally go through an Iftaa course and the person should fulfill the following conditions set by scholars in order that he may be able to issue verdicts (fataawa). They are eight:

1. Mastering the science of principles of jurisprudence,
2. Mastering the science of Hadith,
3. Mastering the science of Maqasid ash-Shari`ah (Objectives of Shari`ah),
4. Mastering legal maxims,
5. Mastering the science of comparative religions,
6. Mastering the foundations of social sciences,
7. Knowing Arabic, and
8. Having sufficient knowledge of social realities.^[2]

The authority of the Mufti

An example of the influence of the mufti can be taken from this incident in Tunisia: Habib Bourguiba, the late President of Tunisia, once argued in 1961 (1381 Muslim Calendar) that "fasting" during Ramadan should not be observed for it reduces productivity. He then appeared on television with his cabinet, eating and drinking during Ramadan. Bourguiba then asked the Grand Mufti of Tunisia, Sheikh Altaher Ibn Ashoor (Arabic: الشيخ الطاهر بن عاشور‎), to issue a fatwa accommodating the desires of the state.

The Grand Mufti of Tunisia went on television and read sura Al-Baqara:183 (2:183):

O you who believe! Observing the fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become the pious.

Then he issued a fatwa that not observing Ramadan is a sin and whoever doesn't observe the fasting has knowingly rejected his well-known religious duty forcibly and added that fasting does not reduce productivity.

See also

• Grand Mufti
• Ahmad Bader Hassoun, Syrian mufti
• Atassi family, muftis of Homs, Syria

References

1. ^ "muf·ti". thefreedictionary. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/mufti. Retrieved 20 september 2011. 
2. ^ Ask the scholar, Islam online, http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218558415726&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar .

External links

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). "muftī". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• The Grand Mufti of Egypt's English Website