The Variation of Rulings and Fatwas According to Places and Countries
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The questioner:
A questioner says: Is it true that the Shari'ah rulings and fatwas differ according to places and countries among the scholars? And if this is true, what is the criterion? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh:
The Shari'ah rulings that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated do not differ, change, or alter, because He has legislated for every situation and every case what is appropriate for it, for He is Wise and All-Aware, Glorified and Exalted is He. As for the rulings that are in the sense of fatwas and the ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of the scholars, these do change. Yes, so the mujtahid's ijtihad changes according to the evidence that becomes apparent to him, because a person is human; today something is hidden from him, and tomorrow something becomes clear to him. So it is the ijtihad that changes, and it is the scholars' fatwas that change. As for the Shari'ah, the texts, and the Shari'ah rulings, these do not change. Yes, if he would go deeper. Yes.
The questioner:
An example of the change.
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
I mean an example of the change in the...
The Shaykh:
This change is like what happened to 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), where he ruled on a case with a judgment, and then the case was presented to him again later, and he ruled on it with a different judgment. So it was said to him: "You had already ruled on this in the past?" He said: "That was based on what we had at the time, and this is based on what we have now." Every person may not have reached the full extent of understanding at first, but in the end, he takes the evidence and leaves his first ijtihad. At first, he thought about it, and his thinking reached a limit. And the second time, he thought more and delved deeper into the thinking, so he found a path different from the one he had found at first. He retracts as long as the truth becomes apparent to him, or as long as the ijtihad becomes stronger in his view, he retracts.
This is the meaning of the change of a fatwa due to changes in circumstances and times: the circumstances of the mufti, the circumstances of the questioner, and the difference in time from one moment to another. It is the ijtihad of men that differs, whereas the Shari'ah never differs. Yes.
A questioner says: Is it true that the Shari'ah rulings and fatwas differ according to places and countries among the scholars? And if this is true, what is the criterion? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh:
The Shari'ah rulings that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has legislated do not differ, change, or alter, because He has legislated for every situation and every case what is appropriate for it, for He is Wise and All-Aware, Glorified and Exalted is He. As for the rulings that are in the sense of fatwas and the ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) of the scholars, these do change. Yes, so the mujtahid's ijtihad changes according to the evidence that becomes apparent to him, because a person is human; today something is hidden from him, and tomorrow something becomes clear to him. So it is the ijtihad that changes, and it is the scholars' fatwas that change. As for the Shari'ah, the texts, and the Shari'ah rulings, these do not change. Yes, if he would go deeper. Yes.
The questioner:
An example of the change.
The Shaykh:
Yes.
The questioner:
I mean an example of the change in the...
The Shaykh:
This change is like what happened to 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), where he ruled on a case with a judgment, and then the case was presented to him again later, and he ruled on it with a different judgment. So it was said to him: "You had already ruled on this in the past?" He said: "That was based on what we had at the time, and this is based on what we have now." Every person may not have reached the full extent of understanding at first, but in the end, he takes the evidence and leaves his first ijtihad. At first, he thought about it, and his thinking reached a limit. And the second time, he thought more and delved deeper into the thinking, so he found a path different from the one he had found at first. He retracts as long as the truth becomes apparent to him, or as long as the ijtihad becomes stronger in his view, he retracts.
This is the meaning of the change of a fatwa due to changes in circumstances and times: the circumstances of the mufti, the circumstances of the questioner, and the difference in time from one moment to another. It is the ijtihad of men that differs, whereas the Shari'ah never differs. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-037-الفرق بين التيسير الشرعي والمعاصر|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (38:17)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.