Islamic thinker slams individual fatwas

Sana'a: An Islamic thinker criticised satellite channels for hosting men who issue fatwas without referring to recognised religious institutions.

Abdul Malik Mansour, chairman of the Cairo-based Cultural Establishment for dialogue between civilisations highlighted the need to estbalish religious institutions dedicated to the issuing of Fatwas, and also rejected fatwas issued by unauthorized individuals.

“I disagree with the fatwas issued by individuals. Fatwa is a religion and not an opinion. It should not be issued according to someone's wishes and opinions,'' he said.

Mansour called for spreading the enlightening and humanitarian aspects of Islam and rejecting extremism, terrorism and violence.

“We need to market the humanitarian aspects of Islam, which are full of good things for all human beings,'' Mansour told a gathering of clerics and mosque speakers in Sana'a on Sunday.

“We have precious goods in Islam, but we can don't know how to market them. We only know how to market extremism and violence in our fatwas,'' he told attendees of the conference entitled “New Media between Freedom of Expression and Relgious Abuse''.

The conference was sponsored by the Saudi Arabia-based Islamic World League in cooperation and coordination of the Yemen Ministries of Endowments and Information.

Mansour also emphasised that Islam does not discriminate between men and women, and blamed bad traditions and customs for the negative perception.