You mentioned that among the obligatory conditions for a mufti is being knowledgeable of the Qur'an and its sciences, the Sunnah and its sciences, and the language
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you mentioned (may Allah preserve you) that the Arabic language is a vast and abundant science, and that among the obligatory conditions for a mufti is being knowledgeable of the Qur'an and its sciences, the Sunnah and its sciences, and the language and its sciences,
The Shaykh:
to the extent possible. It is not necessary that he be comprehensive in all the sciences, but to the extent possible. He issues a fatwa based on what his knowledge and independent legal reasoning lead him to, and he says, "This is my independent legal reasoning" or "This is my opinion." He does not say, "This is the ruling of Allah." He does not say, "This is the ruling of Allah," but rather he says, "This is my independent legal reasoning" or "This is what has become apparent to me according to my knowledge." Yes.
The questioner:
He says: And we have been afflicted in this time with the multitude of muftis, many of whom do not see the obligation of complete and full knowledge of the Arabic language. What is your guidance regarding that?
The Shaykh:
The original point is that you did not understand what is meant by issuing a fatwa. Issuing a fatwa among the early scholars meant independent legal reasoning. Independent legal reasoning. So the mufti is called that in the sense of the absolute mujtahid.
As for the second type of issuing a fatwa, it is transmission. It is not independent legal reasoning; it is transmission. You transmit the words of a scholar, or the words of an imam, or the words of a school of jurisprudence. This is transmission, not independent legal reasoning on your part. You say, "I saw such-and-such in such-and-such a book," or "So-and-so transmitted such-and-such from him." You transmit with fidelity; you transmit with fidelity. This is transmission, not a fatwa. You transmit from others, so there is a difference between a fatwa and transmitting the words of the people of knowledge and the words of the imams. So you transmit what is stronger for you with evidence. If you see evidence for it, you transmit it to the questioner. If you do not see evidence for it, you refrain from it. This is a specific independent legal reasoning, independent legal reasoning within a school. As for the first one, which requires mastery of the language, mastery of the Qur'an, and mastery of the Sunnah, and knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated, the absolute and the restricted, and so on, that refers to the absolute mujtahid, like the four imams, al-Awza'i, al-Thawri, and the great imams, the imams who exercised absolute independent legal reasoning. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, you mentioned (may Allah preserve you) that the Arabic language is a vast and abundant science, and that among the obligatory conditions for a mufti is being knowledgeable of the Qur'an and its sciences, the Sunnah and its sciences, and the language and its sciences,
The Shaykh:
to the extent possible. It is not necessary that he be comprehensive in all the sciences, but to the extent possible. He issues a fatwa based on what his knowledge and independent legal reasoning lead him to, and he says, "This is my independent legal reasoning" or "This is my opinion." He does not say, "This is the ruling of Allah." He does not say, "This is the ruling of Allah," but rather he says, "This is my independent legal reasoning" or "This is what has become apparent to me according to my knowledge." Yes.
The questioner:
He says: And we have been afflicted in this time with the multitude of muftis, many of whom do not see the obligation of complete and full knowledge of the Arabic language. What is your guidance regarding that?
The Shaykh:
The original point is that you did not understand what is meant by issuing a fatwa. Issuing a fatwa among the early scholars meant independent legal reasoning. Independent legal reasoning. So the mufti is called that in the sense of the absolute mujtahid.
As for the second type of issuing a fatwa, it is transmission. It is not independent legal reasoning; it is transmission. You transmit the words of a scholar, or the words of an imam, or the words of a school of jurisprudence. This is transmission, not independent legal reasoning on your part. You say, "I saw such-and-such in such-and-such a book," or "So-and-so transmitted such-and-such from him." You transmit with fidelity; you transmit with fidelity. This is transmission, not a fatwa. You transmit from others, so there is a difference between a fatwa and transmitting the words of the people of knowledge and the words of the imams. So you transmit what is stronger for you with evidence. If you see evidence for it, you transmit it to the questioner. If you do not see evidence for it, you refrain from it. This is a specific independent legal reasoning, independent legal reasoning within a school. As for the first one, which requires mastery of the language, mastery of the Qur'an, and mastery of the Sunnah, and knowledge of the abrogating and the abrogated, the absolute and the restricted, and so on, that refers to the absolute mujtahid, like the four imams, al-Awza'i, al-Thawri, and the great imams, the imams who exercised absolute independent legal reasoning. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [924 -1024]ذكرتم أن من الشروط الواجبة في المفتي أن يكون عالما بالقرآن وعلومه والسنة وعلومها واللغة.. — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.