Position of fatwa in Islamic law: the effectiveness of MUI, NU, and Muhammadiyah fatwas

Abstract

Quantitatively, there is a gap between the number of limited religious texts and the enormous reality of dynamic context. Indeed, in the main principle of Islamic law, every activity carried out by a Muslim must comply with sharia rules. The syara’ regulations are religious texts concerning words, actions, or other activities carried out by someone capable of law (mukallaf). To overcome the possible gap between the text and the context, the scholars (ulama) formulate various methods with the result that Islamic law can be a medium of connecting and an effective means of compromising religious texts with one’s activities. With the production of these various methods, the production of texts that have ended since the death of the Prophet Muhammad ± 1500 years ago will still have control and be able to guide humankind. This article discussed how fatwa, as scholars’ thoughts, has a dialectic with society’s reality. In addition, it also explored fatwas’ practical level. In fact, fatwa is one of the efforts to find syar’i answers to various problems arising in human life, especially in modern times