RIYADH // A prominent Saudi columnist has taken the well-known Muslim cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi to task for issuing political opinions in the guise of religious rulings - a practice that the columnist laments has become widespread and harmful to the reputation of religion.
Mshari al Zaidi's criticism of the Doha-based Egyptian cleric is the latest skirmish in a long-running argument over the proper role of clerics in modern Muslim societies, what their religious rulings should address, and who exactly has the authority to issue a fatwa.
The argument, which spans the Muslim world, has become even more pointed and crucial since the appearance of extremist groups such as al Qa'eda, which seek to justify their violence with religious rulings from sympathetic clerics.
The dilemma has been heightened in recent decades with rising levels of literacy and education in Muslim countries. As a result, more Muslims are rejecting traditional religious authorities - usually allied to the state - and preferring to interpret the Quran and hadith themselves, or to find a cleric who issues rulings that they find acceptable.
It is not uncommon nowadays to find Muslims who have no traditional training issuing fatwas in order to gain a popular following. And they easily spread their messages by radio, television and the internet.
The upshot in the view of many Muslims has been fatwa chaos.
In remarks to an international conference of Muslim scholars held in Mecca a year ago, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz lamented that "internally the Islamic world has been plagued by an extremely negative phenomenon, which is the tendency to deliver fatwas by unqualified persons, especially on satellite television channels, the internet and other modern channels of communication.
"Issuing ill-considered fatwas without following any criterion offers biased, ignorant, extremist or careless individuals the opportunity to pose as religious experts qualified to issue fatwas," added the king, whose speech was read for him at the conference.
No one disputes Mr al Qaradawi's mainstream Islamic credentials, nor his authority to issue fatwas. He is widely regarded as a renowned and popular scholar with a deep background in Islamic scripture.
The issue raised by Mr al Zaidi in his January 16 column in Asharq al Awsat, rather, deals with what he and some other Muslims regard as the misuse of sermons and fatwas to deal directly with divisive political issues.
"A religious scholar cannot give preference to one political party over another or interfere in political affairs, using his immunity and status to do so, without actually inflicting harm on the political status quo and the reputation of religion," wrote Mr al Zaidi.
"One clear example of this is Sheikh Yusuf al Qaradawi, whose Friday sermons have become 'a weekly political statement'", he added.
In a recent sermon in which he discussed the Egypt-Gaza border dispute, Mr al Qaradawi "attacked Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and sided with Hamas", suggesting that Mr Abbas should be punished "by stoning him to death", wrote Mr al Zaidi.
Mr al Qaradawi also issued a fatwa ruling that Egyptian plans to build a wall along its border with Gaza violated Islamic law, according to Mr al Zaidi. "In response," he wrote, "members of the Islamic Research Academy in Al Azhar issued a Fatwa that invalidated al Qaradawi's fatwa."
The danger "of religious scholars getting involved in political disputes", the columnist continued, is that most people "do not look at these views as personal opinions of a political activist called Yusuf al Qaradawi, but rather as instructions given by a great Muslim scholar and jurist".
Mr al Zaidi cited Iraq's sectarian strife, fuelled by Muslim clerics issuing political opinions, as an example of this danger.
"I wish our scholars and preachers would calm down a little and focus on explaining jurisprudence and reviving the moral principles of faith rather than getting involved in political wrangling," Mr al Zaidi concluded.
Of course, governments in Muslim majority countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, like fatwas that support their policy decisions.
But increasingly they are trying to monitor and control the issuing of fatwas, and are encouraging people to listen only to state-sanctioned clerics.
Given Islam's liberal nature when it comes to religious authority, however, the state is limited in what it can do in this area.
A year ago, the Mecca-based Muslim World League organised a conference of more than 170 religious scholars from around the world to deal with the problem of proliferating fatwas by unqualified persons.
"In view of the significance of fatwas in the lives of Muslims, the Fiqh Academy, a subsidiary of the Muslim World League, is organising a conference to determine the methods and terms and conditions that should govern fatwas," Abdullah al Turki, the secretary-general of the League, told local reporters at the time.
"Some people make their fatwas on issues that they do not know in-depth and without due consideration for the Sharia requirements. Issuing a fatwa is a very serious matter as it involves making a decision on the basis of the law laid down by Allah and explained by the Prophet, peace be upon him," Mr al Turki said.
The final communiqué of the conference sets out guidelines for issuing fatwas as well as requirements for those who seek to make such rulings. It urges that the "occupation of issuing religious edicts ... should not be looked upon as a mere office for expressing personal opinion".
It cautioned Muslims "to take every possible precaution not to call an individual Muslim an infidel as it is not permissible at all ... unless he commits an act that clearly invalidates Islam. Figurative interpretation is not acceptable in this matter."
The communiqué also urged Muslim scholars "to be cautious not to issue misleading religious edicts that entice people to shed the blood of Muslims without due right".
These last two recommendations strike at the basis of many fatwas by extremist preachers, who use the apostate or infidel label to justify violence against other Muslims.
cmurphy@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances