Transmitting the fatwa of a contemporary imam to those seeking a ruling
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am the imam of a mosque, and people come to me asking for rulings on certain matters that arise. Is it permissible for me to transmit to them the fatwa of a contemporary imam on a matter similar to what they mentioned, or is something else obligatory for me?
Answer:
Transmitting a fatwa is not sufficient, because you may not have understood the fatwa and might transmit it incorrectly, or the fatwa may have been for a specific occasion and you are generalizing it to a place where it does not apply. So, to clear your conscience, say: I do not know, ask the people of knowledge. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: I am the imam of a mosque, and people come to me asking for rulings on certain matters that arise. Is it permissible for me to transmit to them the fatwa of a contemporary imam on a matter similar to what they mentioned, or is something else obligatory for me?
Answer:
Transmitting a fatwa is not sufficient, because you may not have understood the fatwa and might transmit it incorrectly, or the fatwa may have been for a specific occasion and you are generalizing it to a place where it does not apply. So, to clear your conscience, say: I do not know, ask the people of knowledge. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن كيده الذي بلغ به من الجهال ما بلغ : الوسواس — islamhouse.com (1:07:36)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.