Saudi Arabia: Prominent cleric slams social media fatwa outlets

Cairo: A prominent Saudi scholar has lashed out at self-appointed clerics on social media, accusing them of issuing misleading fatwas or religious edicts.

"Fatwas should not be taken from those sitting behind social networking sites," said Sheikh Abdulrahman Al Sudais, chief of the Religious Affairs Presidency for the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque — Islam's two most sacred sites in Saudi Arabia.

"We at the two Holy Mosques uphold the unity of the Ummah's (Islamic nation's) word on the Holy Quran and the Sunnah," he said, referring to the two main sources of Islamic Sharia.

Sheikh Al Sudais also emphasised the importance of respecting ijtihads made by both past and contemporary scholars, in accordance with Sharia rules and evidence.

There are 10 robots designated for receiving fatwa requests. He added that scholars at the two Holy Mosques answered more than 5 million such queries in various languages over the course of one year.

Last month, leading Islamic scholars gathered for a major forum on fatwa at the Prophet's Mosque, Islam's second holiest site in Medina.

Sheikh Al Sudais rejected what he called "abnormal" fatwas, such as those claiming that performing the annual Islamic pilgrimage, or Hajj, is permissible without an official permit.

"Fatwas should be obtained from qualified scholars, not from the ignorant, half-educated, or those sitting behind social media sites," he told Saudi TV Al Ekhbariya.