What is the ruling on issuing a fatwa if you know the answer to the question from one of the great scholars?
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The questioner : What is the ruling on issuing a fatwa if you know the answer to the question from one of the great scholars?
The Shaykh : Yes. It is permissible to issue a fatwa based on the statement of some scholars in whom you have confidence, but let the form of the fatwa be in your own words: "So-and-so said such and such," if you are certain of his statement and that the specific case you were asked about is the one this scholar intends. As for issuing a fatwa with absolute certainty, this is not appropriate, because if you issue it with certainty, the fatwa is attributed to you. But if you transmit it from someone else, you are a narrator reporting information, and you are safe from the danger of that fatwa and safe from having attributed to you what you are not qualified for. The person who follows a scholar without knowing his evidence should attribute the statement to the one he follows, not to himself. This is unlike the one who derives the ruling of the issue from the Book and the Sunnah and is among those qualified to derive rulings; it is permissible for him to issue a fatwa attributing the matter to himself. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. Also, from his questions, this question, O honorable Shaykh, he says.
The Shaykh : Yes. It is permissible to issue a fatwa based on the statement of some scholars in whom you have confidence, but let the form of the fatwa be in your own words: "So-and-so said such and such," if you are certain of his statement and that the specific case you were asked about is the one this scholar intends. As for issuing a fatwa with absolute certainty, this is not appropriate, because if you issue it with certainty, the fatwa is attributed to you. But if you transmit it from someone else, you are a narrator reporting information, and you are safe from the danger of that fatwa and safe from having attributed to you what you are not qualified for. The person who follows a scholar without knowing his evidence should attribute the statement to the one he follows, not to himself. This is unlike the one who derives the ruling of the issue from the Book and the Sunnah and is among those qualified to derive rulings; it is permissible for him to issue a fatwa attributing the matter to himself. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you. Also, from his questions, this question, O honorable Shaykh, he says.