Mufti

This article is about Islamic scholars. For clothing, see Mufti (dress).

A mufti (/ˈmʌfti/; Arabic: مفتي muftī; Turkish: müftü) is an Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law (Sharia and fiqh).[1] A muftiate or diyanet is a council of muftis.

William Cleveland wrote in his A History of the Modern Middle East that muftis were "experts in Islamic law qualified to give authoritative legal opinions known as fatwas; muftis were members of the ulama establishment and ranked above qadis".

Within Islamic legal schools, a mufti is considered the pinnacle in the hierarchy of scholars because of the advanced training required for the individual aspiring to be a mufti. Originally, muftis were private individuals who gave fatwas informally, regulated their own activities, and determined their own standards of the fatwa institution. A mufti could also be defined as an individual well-grounded in Islamic law.

Qualifications

A mufti will generally go through a course in iftaa, the issuance of fatwa, and the person should fulfill the following conditions set by scholars in order that he may be able to issue verdicts (fatwas):[2]

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

Gallery

See also

References

  1. "mufti". thefreedictionary. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  2. Reaching the status of mufti by Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf Mangera.
  3. Ask the scholar, Islam online

External links

Look up mufti in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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