What is the ruling on referring a questioner to another scholar in issuing a fatwa?
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The questioner : I say that issuing fatwas is a duty. How do we distinguish it from concealing knowledge? For example, if a student of knowledge is asked about an issue and refers the questioner to a scholar, the questioner might... he might... he might dismiss the issue and not accept it? Or he might not go to that scholar. Is it not better for him to issue the fatwa himself?
The Shaykh : No, that is not the case; there is a detailed ruling on this, and we have that. The original ruling is that this is permissible. The original ruling is that it is permissible to refer him if there is someone in the town who is qualified to issue fatwas. But you must know, my brothers, that every permissible act can be affected by circumstances that make it obligatory, or that make it forbidden, or that place it somewhere in between. So if you see that if you refer this man to so-and-so, he will be dissatisfied and stop asking the question entirely, yes, or if you sense that he does not want to seek a fatwa from anyone but you—he knows the people, but he is not going to go to anyone else; sometimes he explicitly says, "I do not want anyone but you"—then in that case, you have no choice but to answer him. However, if you know that this man is eager and you refer him to someone, either to avoid a problem—there may be reasons for this; perhaps he fears issuing a fatwa on an issue that involves this questioner and other people, and he is a relative of theirs or something similar, and he does not like to be the one to issue the fatwa on it, so he refers him to this person; or the issue came to him from someone else, as appears from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas... Ibn 'Abbas was asked by Ibn 'Umar and he referred him to him.
The important point is that the original ruling is permissibility, subject to the two conditions we mentioned, and a permissible act can be affected by circumstances that make it obligatory or forbidden as well. Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : I say...
The Shaykh : And what does he say?
The Shaykh : No, that is not the case; there is a detailed ruling on this, and we have that. The original ruling is that this is permissible. The original ruling is that it is permissible to refer him if there is someone in the town who is qualified to issue fatwas. But you must know, my brothers, that every permissible act can be affected by circumstances that make it obligatory, or that make it forbidden, or that place it somewhere in between. So if you see that if you refer this man to so-and-so, he will be dissatisfied and stop asking the question entirely, yes, or if you sense that he does not want to seek a fatwa from anyone but you—he knows the people, but he is not going to go to anyone else; sometimes he explicitly says, "I do not want anyone but you"—then in that case, you have no choice but to answer him. However, if you know that this man is eager and you refer him to someone, either to avoid a problem—there may be reasons for this; perhaps he fears issuing a fatwa on an issue that involves this questioner and other people, and he is a relative of theirs or something similar, and he does not like to be the one to issue the fatwa on it, so he refers him to this person; or the issue came to him from someone else, as appears from the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas... Ibn 'Abbas was asked by Ibn 'Umar and he referred him to him.
The important point is that the original ruling is permissibility, subject to the two conditions we mentioned, and a permissible act can be affected by circumstances that make it obligatory or forbidden as well. Yes.
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : I say...
The Shaykh : And what does he say?