IslamQA.info

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Islamqa.info
Islamqa logo.jpeg
Type of site
Islamic, Salafi, Legal/Religious
Available inArabic, English, Farsi, Japanese, Chinese, Uighur, French, Spanish, Indonesian, German, Portuguese, Hindi, Russian, Urdu, Turkish and Bengali
Created byMuhammad Al-Munajid
URLislamqa.info
CommercialNo
Registrationoptional
Launched1997
Current statusActive

Islam Q&A[1] is an academic, educational, da‘wah website which aims to offer advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts in an adequate and easy-to-understand manner.[1] It is a website providing information regarding Islam.[2] It was founded by renowned scholar Muhammad Al-Munajjid and it is the most popular website in the Muslim World especially in Arab.[3]

History[]

The service was one of the first online fatwa services, if not the first.[4] The launching of IslamQA.info in 1997 by Muhammad Al-Munajjid marked the beginning of an attempt to answer questions according to the Salafi school's interpretation of the Quran and Hadith.[4] The website states that "All questions and answers on this site have been prepared, approved, revised, edited, amended or annotated by Shaykh Muhammad Saalih al-Munajjid, the supervisor of this site."[5]

Motto[]

  1. To spread Islam and call people to it.
  2. To spread Islamic knowledge and dispel ignorance among Muslims.
  3. To respond to people’s needs by offering advice and answers based on evidence from religious texts.
  4. To refute the specious arguments of doubters about Islam.
  5. To advise people concerning day-to-day issues, by giving educational, academic advice about social and other matters.[1]

Popularity[]

According to the website Similarweb, islamqa.info had 13.66 million visits in March 2021, an increase from about 10 million visits per month in October and November 2020. Similarweb ranked islamqa 6th in the world in the category of "Community and Society > Faith and Beliefs" websites (the highest ranking Islamic website), but only 6181st among websites overall.[6]

Contents[]

IslamQA is available in 16 languages, including English, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Turkish, German, Bangla, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish, the website provides fatawa covering basic tenets of faith, etiquette and morals, Islamic history, and Islamic politics.[7]

The site describes itself in the following manner:

Islam Q&A is an academic, educational, da‘wah website which aims to offer advice and academic answers based on evidence from religious texts in an adequate and easy-to-understand manner... The website welcomes questions from everyone, Muslims and otherwise, about Islamic, psychological and social matters.[8]

The site's vision is to be "an encyclopaedia about Islam".[8] Its aims (as described on the website) are:

  1. To spread Islam and call people to it.
  2. To spread Islamic knowledge and dispel ignorance among Muslims.
  3. To respond to people’s needs by offering advice and answers based on evidence from religious texts.
  4. To refute the specious arguments of doubters about Islam.
  5. To advise people concerning day-to-day issues, by giving educational, academic advice about social and other matters.[8]

Methodology[]

The site describes its methodology as such:

The website promotes the ‘aqeedah (beliefs) of Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa‘ah and the followers of the righteous early generations of Islam (as-salaf as-saalih). It strives to ensure that the answers are based on evidence from the Holy Qur’an and the soundly-narrated (saheeh) prophetic Sunnah, and are taken from the writings of the scholars, including the imams of the four madhhabs, Imam Abu Haneefah, Imam Maalik, Imam ash-Shaafa‘i and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, as well as other earlier and later scholars, and from the statements of fiqh councils and seekers of knowledge who conduct research in various Islamic specialties. The website avoids getting involved in issues that are of no benefit, such as empty arguments, trading insults and fruitless debates.[8]

Fatwas in the media[]

The fatwas on the website have been noted in Western English language news sources.[9][10]

Homosexuality[]

Al-Munajjid published a fatwa on homosexuality,[11] which he called "one of the greatest crimes, the worst of sins and the most abhorrent of deeds".[12]

Houri[]

IslamQA has responded to a question, "Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn? [13] This answer has been criticized by Agoravox which has said this could encourage those who, "think that if they die and go to heaven they will have superb apparently virgin women . . who will wait for them to live an eternity of happiness".[14]

Slavery[]

On the subject of men having sex with female slaves, IslamQA issued a fatwas stating that a Muslim wife "has no right to object to her husband owning female slaves or to his having intercourse with them [...] The scholars are unanimous in this assessment, and no one is permitted to view this act as forbidden, or to forbid it. Whoever does so is a sinner, and is acting against the consensus of the scholars."[15][16] This was one of many similar fatwas published by Islamic scholars on the role of women in Islam.

Women[]

The fact-checking website Punditfact mentioned Al-Munajjid's justification for why women should not drive, as published on IslamQA.info, when deciding the factual accuracy of the claim that Saudi Arabia was the only Muslim-majority nation that did not allow women to drive.[9] The fatwa was quoted saying: "It is well known that (driving) leads to evil consequences which are well known to those who promote it, such as being alone with a non-mahram (marriageable) woman, unveiling, reckless mixing with men, and committing haraam (sinful) actions because of which these things were forbidden."[9][17] The article has been removed from the website. The ban on driving in Saudi Arabia has been lifted.[18]

Controversy in Saudi Arabia[]

The website was banned in Saudi Arabia because it was issuing independent fatwas. In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's Council of Senior Scholars has sole responsibility for issuing fatwas.[19] The Council was granted this exclusive authority to issue fatwas by a royal edict issued in August 2010 (while restrictions had been in place since 2005, they were seldom enforced); this move was described by Christopher Boucek as "the latest example of how the state is working to assert its primacy over the country’s religious establishment."[20]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "About Website - Islam Question & Answer". islamqa.info. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  2. ^ Richard Gauvain (2013). Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God. Routledge. p. 335. ISBN 9780710313560.
  3. ^ "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it" Deutsche Welle. 10.01.2016
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Kadri, Sadakat (2012). Heaven on Earth: A Journey Through Shari'a Law from the Deserts of Ancient Arabia ... macmillan. p. 207. ISBN 9780099523277.
  5. ^ IslamQA.info website: "Introduction" Archived 2014-02-23 at the Wayback Machine retrieved September 17, 2016
  6. ^ "islamqa.info Mar 2021". Similarweb. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  7. ^ Jonathan Schanzer, Steven Miller, Facebook Fatwa: Saudi Clerics, Wahhabi Islam, and Social Media, p 51 -52. ISBN 9780981971261
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d About Website islamqa.info About our site
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c Greenberg, Jon (7 October 2014). "Obeidallah: Saudi Arabia is the only Muslim nation where women can't drive". Punditfact. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. ^ Nomani, Asra Q.; Arafa, Hala (11 October 2015). "Inside the World of Gulf State Slavery". Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. ^ "The punishment for homosexuality - islamqa.info". islamqa.info.
  12. ^ MCCARTHY, ANDREW C. (14 August 2013). "Obama's Gay-Rights Hypocrisy". National Review. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  13. ^ "Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn?". IslamQA. 30 August 2000. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Are religions the enemies of peace". Agoravox. 18 October 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  15. ^ Knipp, Kersten (10 January 2016). "Women in Islam: Behind the veil and in front of it". DW. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  16. ^ "Ruling on having intercourse with a slave woman when one has a wife - Islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016.
  17. ^ "Does the ruling on driving a car vary from one country to another? - islamqa.info". islamqa.info. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
  18. ^ "Saudi Women Are Taking the Wheel as Longstanding Driving Ban Ends". Time. Archived from the original on June 26, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
  19. ^ "Saudi Arabia blocks 'Islam Question and Answer'," Al Arabiya (in Arabic), September 2, 2010
  20. ^ Christopher Boucek, "Saudi Fatwa Restrictions and the State-Clerical Relationship," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, October 27, 2010 (accessed November 18, 2013).

External links[]

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