Askar:"Ijtihad" certain to ensure integrity of Islam for all times

Al Azhar scholar Dr. Atef Awad Askar underlined the significance of the 33rd International Conference of The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs

Al Azhar scholar Dr. Atef Awad Askar underlined the significance of the 33rd International Conference of The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs held in Egypt under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah e-Sisi with the participation of several ministers, scholars, thinkers and media professionals from different countries.

Hosted by (Breakfast Show), he shed light on “Ijtihad” as the mind process to find a communal legal verdict or opinion on one of the modern issues that one of the individuals in the community is facing. The “Mujtahedoon” are those who exercise this part of mind process and should work their minds to find the examples of that issue in the Islamic history in Quran or the Sunnah and find the legal verdict for the modern one.

He highlighted the Minister of Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa's phrase “Fatwa without knowledge is catastrophic and may lead to disastrous results”, explaining that “fatwa” is different from the “legal ruling”, deemed a consensus of the scholars gathering together and issuing one ruling or opinion of those scholars i.e. the researches of that verdict. On the other hand, he illustrated that the “fatwa” might be by some persons related to a very sub-important opinion or sub-important issue happening in the community. Fatwa might differ from one time to another, might be for one person and not for a group of people and a “fatwa” suits the case of a specific person, he said, while the “legal ruling” is for all the people and the community at large.

He asserted that Islam is not a religion for the prophet’s companions only or for people who lived in the past but rather a religion for the present and for the people coming after us in the future, therefore we need to cope with the fast present technology and at the same time stick to the standards and controls of the Islamic history that we have in the Quran and the Sunnah.

Dr. Asker stressed that “Fatwa” and “legal ruling” must be left for those who are specialists in this kind of mind work, not for any person. There is a big difference between “Ijtihad” and the person’s mere opinion. He gave examples on this from the prophet’s life. We are very flexible in dealing with the wording in the Quran and the Sunnah with one condition: that is to stick to the standards and controls of them, he added.

He stated that some people have a distorted image about Islam that it is a religion of fights and terrorists, yet the conference discussed climate change which is a crisis facing the whole world and this sends peaceful and tolerant messages as we are thinking of how to deal with our modern issues. We learn how we should benefit from the wording of the Quran and Sunnah and how we should benefit from our modern science and technology and compare between them to reach a solution for the welfare of all people, he reiterated, asserting that this is a message which we should shed light on not only in Egypt but also in the whole world.

Dr. Asker called for officials to hold many gatherings and conferences like this one to show how Islam is in the current time. He called them to be very precise in implementing the recommendations of the conference: one of the most important is that not every person is allowed to give any individual verdict in any issue as this causes major troubles in the community.

It is pertinent to mention that the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments had participated in the 33rd International Conference organised by the Ministry of Al-Awqaf of Egypt and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs under the theme “Ijtihad is the Necessity of the Present Time: Its Types, Rules, and Qualified Scholars''. The conference stressed the absolute need for Ijtihad at all times and in all places, especially in the present day, where the world is facing enormous challenges that oblige both intellects and scholars to take the initiative and work collectively to exercise “Ijtihad”.

(Breakfast Show) is aired daily. This episode is presented by Nermeen Abdel Rahman.