Yahya Husain Al-Harbi
Associate Professor, College of Sharia, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Issue: 102 | Pages: 104-111 | September 2025 | https://doi.org/10.54940/si92899831 | PDF
Submission Date: 2024/01/18 | Revision Submission Date: 2024/05/15 | Acceptance Date: 2024/06/02
Corresponding Author: yalhrbi@kku.edu.sa
Abstract
This study examines the concept of the Fatwa (Islamic legal opinion) and how the statutory system interacts with it, focusing on a set of judicial applications within the chapter on divorce in the Personal Status Law. The paper addresses several questions regarding the harmony between Fatwas and statutory regulations, and the practical impact of Fatwas on laws. The researcher adopted an inductive, analytical, and thematic methodology. Among the most prominent findings of this study is the alignment of the regulatory authority (the legislator) with Fatwas on controversial matters that are highly relevant to public life and serve the public interest. This clearly demonstrates that the legislator aimed to serve the public welfare and alleviate hardship in these matters, which is one of the core objectives of Islamic Sharia (Maqasid al-Shariah) that seeks to remove distress, hardship, and burden from legally accountable individuals. The study's key recommendations include: considering public circumstances across all areas of Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh) through their practical reality represented by Fatwas; enhancing cooperation between fatwa-issuing bodies and the regulatory authority to achieve the highest level of harmony that serves the public interest; and clarifying the interaction between Fatwas and statutory regulations in controversial issues, especially with the enactment of the Law of Notarization. Since the latter operates according to statutory law, it may cause hardship to fatwa-seekers if their practical religious practice contradicts the statutory system. This necessitates a review of what is in the public's best interest across general regulations, alongside conducting joint research between sociology and jurisprudence departments to outline the social impacts of this alignment between the regulatory authority and public reality.
Keywords
Fatwa, Regulations, Personal Status Law, Divorce, Controversial Legal Issues.
How to Cite
Al-Harbi, Y. (2025). Between Fatwa and Regulations: An Applied Study on Selected Divorce Issues in the Personal Status Law. Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Sharia Sciences and Islamic Studies, Issue 102, pp. 101-114. https://doi.org/10.54940/si92899831
Copyright License
1658-8738/© 2025 by the authors. Published by Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Sharia Sciences and Islamic Studies. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of /https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0