A mufti (Arabic: مفتي, muftī , Turkish: müftü ) is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law (Sharia and fiqh).[1] In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population. A muftiat or diyanet is a council of muftis.
[edit] Qualifications
A Mufti will generally go through an Iftaa course and the person should fulfill the following conditions set by scholars in order that he may be able to issue verdicts (fataawa). They are eight:
- Knowing Arabic, and
- Mastering the science of principles of jurisprudence,
- Having sufficient knowledge of social realities. Ask the scholar, Islam online, http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218558415726&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaEAskTheScholar.
- Mastering the science of comparative religions,
- Mastering the foundations of social sciences,
- Mastering the science of Maqasid ash-Shari`ah (Objectives of Shari`ah),
- Mastering the science of Hadith,
- Mastering legal maxims,