IslamQA.info

Islamqa.info

Web address	http://islamqa.info
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Legal/ Religious
Available in	Arabic, English, Japanese, Chinese, Uighur, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Hindi, Russian, Urdu, Turkish and Bengali
Created by	Muhammad Al-Munajid
Launched	1997
Alexa rank	6,669 (August 2015)[1]
Current status	active

IslamQA is a website providing information regarding Islam in accordance with the Salafi school of thought.^[2] It was founded by Muhammad Al-Munajjid.

History

The service was one of if not the first online fatwa services.^[3] The launching of IslamQA.info in 1997 by a "protege of Saudi Arabia's then grand mufti" marked the "beginning of an online fightback by traditionalist" against the tendency of modern Muslims to answer questions by making their own interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.^[3]

Contents

IslamQA is available in 12 languages, including English, Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish, the website provides fatawa covering basic tenets of faith, etiquette and morals, Islamic history, and Islamic politics.^[4]

Traffic

According to Alexa Internet in June 2013, Islamqa.info was ranked #12,038 in the world with a bounce rate of roughly 75% (i.e., 75% of visits consist of only one pageview) and search engines accounting for 35% of visits.^[5] In July 2015, Islamqa.info was ranked #6,787 in the world with a bounce rate of roughly 69.9% and search engines accounting for 46.7% of visits.^[6] In 2015, Alexa lists the site as the most popular on the topic of Islam.^[7]

Controversial Fatwas and Extremist Religious Beliefs

The website includes a number of controversial fatwas and extremist religious beliefs.^[8] These include women who drive being prostitutes,^[9] women being "weak, defeated and dazzled" if they take part in politics,^[10] women being intellectually inferior to men (on a number of occasions),^[11][12][13] women working as broadcasters would necessitate free mixing which often leads to illegitimate children,^[14] needing to divorce women who don't wear the hijab,^[15] needing to leave work if there are women working there too,^[16] polygamy being preferable to monogamy for Muslim males,^[17] women who do not marry will become prostitutes and the illegitimacy of the children will be reflected in their behavior,^[18] a muslim male being sinful for getting to know a girl secretly for the sake of marriage,^[19] being sinful to live in non-Muslim countries (and needing to hate non-muslims if one does live in a non-muslim country),^[20] and not being allowed to appreciate the skills of non-muslim football players, because they are non-muslim.^[21] The website also states "The wife has no right to object to her husband owning female slaves or to his having intercourse with them.".^[22] The site also endorses death for homosexuality ^[23] and for insulting the prophet of Islam.^[24] A fatwa by Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen posted on the website state that Muslim women should not use pain-relieving medication during labour and delivery as it may be a plot against Muslims "because the more births take place in this manner, the more the skin of the abdomen is weakened and pregnancy becomes more dangerous for the woman, and she becomes unable to get pregnant."^[25] Another fatwa states that there are no female Prophets because "The role of Messenger requires a great many tasks to be performed: addressing men and women, meeting people in secret and openly, moving throughout the land, confronting liars and establishing proof against them and debating with them, preparing and leading armies, and going through the sufferings of war. All of that is suitable for men but not for women.", and "The role of the Messenger demands that the Messenger should be in charge of those who follow him, so he issues commands and prohibitions to his followers, and he rules and judges among them. If a woman were entrusted with such tasks, she would not be able to do them properly, and there would be people who would refuse to follow and obey her.", and "Masculinity is more perfect."^[26] Another fatwa approves the marriage of a 26 year old man to a 13 year old girl.^[27] The same fatwa says that if the girl has not yet reached the age of menstruation, the father of a daughter has "the sole right to arrange her marriage and does not have to ask her permission."

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.^[28] 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."^[29] IslamQA.info was still banned as of July 2015.^[30]

See also

• Islam

References

External links

• Official website