Fatwa is merely the opinion
of a regarded scholar on a particular issue. Ever since Ayatollah Khomeini issued the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, such proclamations deliverable by any maulvi have acquired inflects varying from terror to derision. Only muftis trained in Islamic jurisprudence, Quran and Hadith are permitted to deliver a fatwa. The Muslim community already faces the alleged Western Muslim phobia and Islam-bashing from India’s Sangh Parivar. Fatwas delivered by assorted holy men on irrelevant and flippant issues add fuel to fire. To quote a few examples:-
· Darul Uloom Deoband in UP, declared co–education of girls as un-Islamic sending the message that Islam discourages women's progress.
· A maulvi in Midnapore pronounced a fatwa on Sania Mirza's short tennis skirts, till the many community leaders including clerics clarified that the player had the right to choose her game and dress.
The poverty and recklessness of several muftis adds to the fatwa carnival:-
· Mufti Salim Akhtar, headof the Goregaon madrassa suggests that frequently muftis may occassionally accept nazarana (bribe) to give tailor-made fatwas.
· A sting operation by a news channel last year proved that fatwas could be bought.
Zeenat Shaukat Ali, a teacher of Islamic Studies at Mumbai's St. Xavier's College accepts that a mufti must understand the imports his has fatwa before he delivers it. Mufti Abdul Ahad Falahi, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)-appointed mufti and qazi, operating from Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai has in the last two years dispensed around 700 fatwas on subjects some perhaps even beyond his comprehension e.g. shares and stock market. Sensation seeking media has used the fatwa issuing hysteria to keep the Imrana’s rape episode by her father in law remained hot news for weeks and resulted in hot exchanges between the orthodox ulema and the left-leaning liberals. Motivated questions by a female reporter to an unsuspecting mufti regarding propriety of the use of lipstick on work drew the predictable response and became newsworthy. In Sunni Islam, a fatwa is not obligatory. Maulvi can not ostracise a Muslim for not heeding a fatwa. However, in countries like Saudi Arabia where a Sharia court runs on the whims of a royal house, a fatwa can be ruthlessly implemented. In India, a Muslim disobeying a fatwa and does not attract shariya punishments can wait for Allah's curse here or hereafter. In Islamic Saudi Arabia where a Sharia court runs on the whims of a royal house, a fatwa can be ruthlessly implemented.