Friday, May 5, 2023

The most reasonable and logical fatwa websites

Have a question or concern about Islam, but the only Q&A websites you come across are the Salafi/Wahhabi or Deobandi ones? 

Your spiritual health and overall confidence in Islam can take a toll when you feel trapped and no one is there to give you a proper answer based on logic, reason, and downright sanity. It's hard to find a good Islamic website that can not only provide answers, but help guide you and fulfill your spiritual needs.

Most fatwa websites are dominated by Salafi's, the most popular of which is Islam QA (I have a critique on this one that I did several years back). Salafi's believe that 7th century Arab culture is fardh/wajib upon every Muslim. They believe sunnah is fardh on every Muslim, even when Islamic jurisprudence doesn't mandate it. They believe Arab culture is comprised of Islam, so every Muslim needs to follow Arab culture to the letter, otherwise we are "kaffir" and "rejecting Islam".

The next portion of fatwa websites are comprised of Deobandi's (same ideology that the Taliban follow). They are not as strict as Salafi's, but they are still pretty illogical. They are heavily influenced by tribal culture of rural Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. 

There is another set of fatwa websites, unfortunately not as popular. But they exist. They provide logic, reasoning, and the fact that we don't have to follow Arab culture or rural tribal culture of the subcontinent. They help everyone understand that Islam does indeed vary by culture and time, and this is how it has always been. They give an alternate pathway compared to the overly (and uneccessarily) strict fatwa websites.

All of the websites I am about to list have search functions in addition to Q&A requests. It's just a small compilation, but I feel they address controversial issues really well:

-Dr. Shabir Ally is a very well known scholar of Islam and comparative religion. He's experienced in debating Christians, exposing the bible, and defending Islam from those annoying evangelicals and atheists. He has a popular channel on Youtube called Let the Quran Speak. His website has a pretry good fatwa section, and other articles for boosting your knowledge/spirituality:
https://shabirally.com/

-Next up is an institution called Al Mawrid. Is has branches in several countries, but it's headquartered in Pakistan. It's fatwas are slightly influenced by subcontinental culture, but it's not extreme. Most followers of Al Mawrid are based in Pakistan and India. Official website of the institution:
https://www.al-mawrid.org/

-The founder of the institution, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, also has his own website:
https://www.ghamidi.org/

-Khaled Zaheer is a Pakistan-based scholar. He's associated with Al Mawrid:
http://www.khalidzaheer.com/

Shehzad Saleem is another Pakistan-based scholar, who is also associated with Al Mawrid:
http://www.shehzadsaleem.com/

Farhad Shafti is a Pakistani-based scholar. His views are very similar to that of Al Mawrid, but he's not affiliated with them. His bio shows he has studied traditional Islamic sciences with many sheikhs.
https://www.exploring-islam.com/