Shopping for Fatwahs

The Grand Mufti of Egypt

The notion of Fatwahs caught my attention this morning as I was driving in to work. I was listening to Morning Edition on NPR.

I heard an interview with Neil MacFarquhar, long time Middle East Correspondent for The New York Times. He spent much time observing the customs Arabs and Israelis. He describes some of them in his new book, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday. A link to the interview appears below.

During the interview the author talks about the notion of "shopping for Fatwahs." On my trip to Egypt and Syria last year I learned the actual meaning of the word, Fatwah. It was explained to me by the Grand Mufti of Egypt who has responsibility for the religious/judicial system in his country.

Fatwahs are religious/judicial opinions offered in answer to questions raised by ordinary Muslims about daily problems they encounter, especially family and business issues. Most of us know the concept of Fatwah from the 1980s. Back then Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwah against author Salman Rushdie calling for him to be killed for writing the book, The Satanic Verses. Most Fatwahs are fairly mundane.

In the interview tells a humorous story about a young couple in the Middle East who were not married and were planning to drive to Mecca together for Hajj. General Islamic practice in the Middle East prohibits unmarried men and women from traveling together alone in the same car. The young man sought a Fatwah about this issue and was told that it was forbidden to travel together. His woman partner then pointed out that they had an agreement to travel together and split the cost of the journey, so that he should pay her to cover his half of their planned trip and then find his own way to Mecca. As the cost of this would be considerable, the young man sought other fatwas until he found a sheik who told him it was ok to travel together.

Not surprisingly, I know similar stories from Western religion: Catholics seeking out priests to hear their confessions who they know will give them easy penances; protestants who want an answer to a religious question who look around for clergy they know will be sympathetic.

I guess that this tendency to find a way to fit the rules to our needs is universal!


Here's the link to the interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103769811