Middle East Focus: All the King’s Fatwas, all the King’s Men……….

Arabia Deserta

All the King’s Fatwas, all the King’s Men……….

“JEDDAH: The IslamToday website of prominent Saudi scholar Sheikh Salman Al-Oudah has blocked its fatwa section that contains 500,000 religious edicts in order to avoid the closure of the website by Saudi authorities. “We apologize that we cannot receive any requests for fatwas until further notice,” the administrator said in a statement posted on the website. The move came after the Telecommunications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) blocked some websites such as “Islam: Question and Answer” and Qadinet. The ban is likely to extend to a long list of fatwa websites in response to a Royal Decree issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah restricting the issuance of fatwas (religious edicts) to members of the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars (CSIS)……”

Okay, they are cracking down on freedom of fatwas; now only officially temporally-sanctioned fatwas will be allowed. This sheikh can establish his website from outside. He can do it from Dubai, or London, or even from Seattle. Nobody will stop him. Except he will no longer be favored by those whose favors are important, and he obviously does not want that.
Besides, why have fatwas: people who read the Book and know their faith can figure it all out for themselves. No need for the middlemen, lower overhead and all that.
Cheers
mhg

m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com