The Ruling on the Phrase “The Opinion Belongs to Allah, Then to the Rulers”
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Praise be to Allah alone, and may prayers and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. Then:
The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from the honorable judge of the General Court in Bani 'Amr , reference number (318), dated 7/3/1426 AH, and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars with reference number (1272), dated 11/3/1426 AH. His Honor asked a question, the text of which is as follows: We inform you that when some government committees address a problem between disputing parties and submit their report to the competent authority, they append to their report the phrase: “The opinion belongs to Allah, then to the rulers,” or they say: “The correct opinion belongs to Allah.” It is well known that Allah knows all things, and when He wills something, He says to it, “Be,” and it is, as Your Eminity knows. If it is not permissible to attribute an opinion to Allah—because an opinion is a type of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and indicates the limitation of its holder—we hope Your Eminity will take whatever action you see fit regarding the generalization of this phrase to the concerned authorities. We ask Allah to record reward and recompense for you, and to prolong your life in obedience to Allah. May Allah preserve you.
After the Committee studied the inquiry, it responded that it is not permissible to say: “The opinion belongs to Allah, then to so-and-so”; because an opinion is expressed regarding a matter in which one does not know the correct aspect of complex issues. And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows everything. Also, nothing is attributed to Allah except with evidence indicating the correctness of that attribution.
The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from the honorable judge of the General Court in Bani 'Amr , reference number (318), dated 7/3/1426 AH, and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars with reference number (1272), dated 11/3/1426 AH. His Honor asked a question, the text of which is as follows: We inform you that when some government committees address a problem between disputing parties and submit their report to the competent authority, they append to their report the phrase: “The opinion belongs to Allah, then to the rulers,” or they say: “The correct opinion belongs to Allah.” It is well known that Allah knows all things, and when He wills something, He says to it, “Be,” and it is, as Your Eminity knows. If it is not permissible to attribute an opinion to Allah—because an opinion is a type of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) and indicates the limitation of its holder—we hope Your Eminity will take whatever action you see fit regarding the generalization of this phrase to the concerned authorities. We ask Allah to record reward and recompense for you, and to prolong your life in obedience to Allah. May Allah preserve you.
After the Committee studied the inquiry, it responded that it is not permissible to say: “The opinion belongs to Allah, then to so-and-so”; because an opinion is expressed regarding a matter in which one does not know the correct aspect of complex issues. And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows everything. Also, nothing is attributed to Allah except with evidence indicating the correctness of that attribution.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.