Over 60 members from the House of Representatives submitted a draft law to regulate ‘fatwas’ and ban the issuance of fatwas from non-specialists, the head of the House of Representatives’ Human Rights Committee Tarek Radwan said.
Radwan described the ruling issued by the administrative judiciary as “historic”
The draft law, which Radwan said he will present during the coming days, will include severe penalties amounting to large financial fines and imprisonment for anyone who violates its provisions.
He warned that there are those who exploit religion for their own purposes and cause great confusion and strife within society.
This draft law aims to regulate the fatwa profession and set conditions and rules that determine the work of those who issue them.
These include the need to obtain a license from the competent authorities, especially since there are those who issue fatwas on a number of satellite channels and do not have the expertise and educational qualifications to issue them.
He explained that those who issue these fatwas did not study Islamic jurisprudence and matters of religion, and said the matter should be better left to scholars and graduates from Al-Azhar.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
