IslamQA.info

Islamqa.info
Type of site
 Legal/ Religious
Available in Arabic, English, Farsi, Japanese, Chinese, Uighur, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Hindi, Russian, Urdu, Turkish and Bengali
Created by Muhammad Al-Munajid
Website http://islamqa.info
Alexa rank Positive decrease 6,084 (Mar 2017)[1]
Commercial No
Launched 1997
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 and is the most popular Salafi website in the Arab-speaking world.[3]

History

The service was one of the first online fatwa services, if not the first.[4] The launching of IslamQA.info in 1997 by Muhammad Al-Munajjid marked the beginning of an attempt to answer questions by making the real interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.[4] The website states that "All questions and answers on this site have been prepared, approved, revised, edited, amended or annotated by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, the supervisor of this site."[5]

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.[6]

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.[7] 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.[8] In 2015, Alexa lists the site as the most popular on the topic of Islam.[9]

Fatwas in the media

The fatwas on the website have been noted in news sources.[10][11]

Women

The fact-checking website Punditfact mentioned Al-Munajjid's justification for why women should not drive, as published on IslamQA.info, when deciding the factual accuracy of the claim that Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim-majority nation that did not allow women to drive.[10] The fatwa was quoted saying: "It is well known that (driving) leads to evil consequences which are well known to those who promote it, such as being alone with a non-mahram (marriageable) woman, unveiling, reckless mixing with men, and committing haraam (sinful) actions because of which these things were forbidden."[10][12]

Slavery

One of IslamQA's fatwas on slavery — specifically of men having sex with female slaves — has been noted in the media as one of many similar fatwas published by Islamic scholars on the role of women in Islam. The fatwa was quoted stating that a Muslim wife "has no right to object to her husband owning female slaves or to his having intercourse with them [...] The scholars are unanimous in this assessment, and no one is permitted to view this act as forbidden, or to forbid it. Whoever does so, is a sinner, and is acting against the consensus of the scholars."[13][14] Calling IslamQA founder and General Supervisor Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid a "revered Saudi-educated Salafi scholar," journalists Asra Q. Nomani and Hala Arafa quoted part of his fatwa: “Praise be to Allah, Islam allows a man to have intercourse with his slave woman, whether he has a wife or wives or if he is not married. A slave woman with whom a man has intercourse is known as a sariyyah from the word sir, which means marriage.”[11]

Other fatwas

Al-Munajjid published a fatwa on homosexuality,[15] which he called "one of the greatest crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds"[16]

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.[17] 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."[18] As of July 2017, the website has been available in Saudi Arabia.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "islamqa.info Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  2. ↑ Richard Gauvain, Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God, p 355. ISBN 9780710313560
  3. ↑ "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it" Deutsche Welle. 10.01.2016
  4. 1 2 Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... macmillan. p. 207. ISBN 9780099523277.
  5. ↑ IslamQA.info website: "Introduction" retrieved September 17, 2016
  6. ↑ Jonathan Schanzer, Steven Miller, Facebook Fatwa: Saudi Clerics, Wahhabi Islam, and Social Media, p 51 -52. ISBN 9780981971261
  7. ↑ Alexa website: IslamQA retrieved February 5, 2013
  8. ↑ Alexa website: IslamQA retrieved August 4, 2015
  9. ↑ Alexa website: "Top Sites in: All Categories > Society > Religion and Spirituality > Islam" retrieved July 31, 2015
  10. 1 2 3 Greenberg, Jon (7 October 2014). "Obeidallah: Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim nation where women can't drive". Punditfact. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. 1 2 Nomani, Asra Q.; Arafa, Hala (11 October 2015). "Inside the World of Gulf State Slavery". Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Does the ruling on driving a car vary from one country to another? - islamqa.info". islamqa.info.
  13. ↑ Knipp, Kersten (10 January 2016). "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it". DW. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Ruling on having intercourse with a slave woman when one has a wife - Islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
  15. ↑ "The punishment for homosexuality - islamqa.info". islamqa.info.
  16. ↑ MCCARTHY, ANDREW C. (14 August 2013). "Obama’s Gay-Rights Hypocrisy". National Review. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "Saudi Arabia blocks 'Islam Question and Answer'," Al Arabiya (in Arabic), September 2, 2010
  18. ↑ Christopher Boucek, "Saudi Fatwa Restrictions and the State-Clerical Relationship," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 27, 2010 (accessed November 18, 2013).
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