Final statements

The 8th Ordinary Session of the European Council for Fatwa and Research

In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

Final Statement

The 8th Ordinary Session of the European Council for Fatwa and Research

Islamic Cultural Centre – Valencia, Spain

26/4 – 1/5/1422 AH, 18-22/7/2001

 

Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds, and prayers and blessings be upon our beloved Muhammed, and all his descendants and companions.

The 8th ordinary session of the European Council for Fatwa and Research was held at the Islamic Cultural Centre in the Spanish city of Valencia between 26/4 – 1/5/1422 AH, 18-22/5/2001. The Council held its session under the presidency of the Honorable Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi and was attended by the majority of its members. The session was inaugurated with the attendance of Mr Jose Herrari, Governor of the Province of Valencia, and representative of the Spanish Government, as well as representatives of official establishments and sectors and a large Muslim audience.

Shaykh Abdul Raheem Al-Taweel, Imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre and Member of the Council gave a speech welcoming his fellow colleagues, President and members of the European Council for Fatwa and Research in Valencia. The Spanish Government representative then addressed the guests and welcomed the holding of the 8th Council session in Spain. His Eminence, Shaykh Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, President of ECFR then thanked the Islamic Cultural Centre in Valencia for hosting this session, and also thanked the Spanish Government for facilitating the convening of this session in Spain. His Eminence also called for the reinforcement and expansion of the exercise of dialogue among Muslims and non-Muslims.

The Council then moved to address a number of administrative and financial matters of concern and passed the necessary and respective resolutions, the most important of which were those concerning the approval of proposed Amendments to the Constitution. It then moved to examine and consider a number of issues on its Agenda and passed the relevant and respective resolutions, which are:

Resolution 1/8

Computer Software Copyrights

The Council, having considered the papers and studies submitted in this regard, and having discussed and examined the various legal fiqh opinions concerning this issue, whilst observing the relevance of legal evidence and principles of Jurisprudence (fiqh) as well as public interest and Sharia objectives, decided the following:

First: The Council affirms the content of the resolution passed by the International Islamic Fiqh Council in its 5th session in Kuwait held between 1 and 6 Jumada Al-Ula 1309 AH, corresponding to 10 – 15 December 1988, Resolution No. 43 (5/5), the text of which is as follows:

“First: The Commercial Title, Commercial Address, Trademark, Authorship, Invention and creation are special rights of those who own them, and for each of which modern society has given a financial value. These rights are considered from the Sharia perspective and are not to be violated.

 

Second: The Commercial Title (Brand), Address, or Trademark may be transferred for a financial compensation, on condition that no cheating or sinister dealings are involved, on the basis that these are deemed a financial right.

 

Third: Authorship, invention, and patent rights are preserved by virtue of Shari’a, and the owners thereof may deal with them in any manner they so wish and may not be violated by any other”.

Second: Computer software programmes, whether they be application, operation or system files, and whether they be the source programmes which dominate all saving, input and output of data and regardless of the computer language in which they are written, all have a financial value which is considered and preserved by Sharia, and are thus subject to the free dealing of their respective proprietors, whether they be producers, agents, lessees, etc. on condition that no cheating, deception or sinister practices are involved.

Third: Since these computer software programmes are financial rights of their proprietors, they are thus preserved by virtue of Sharia and must never be violated, as their proprietors spent efforts and money to produce these, and thus breaching them would be an act of unjustly eating the wealth of others.

Fourth: The purchase of these software programmes must abide by the conditions of purchase which do not violate Sharia and the laws which regulate the use thereof. This is supported by the numerous texts which demand the fulfillment of contracts and abiding by conditions and regulations, therefore, it is unlawful to copy them for the benefit of others as long as the contract does not allow for this practice.

Fifth: It is unlawful to purchase or trade in software programmes which are known to be stolen or illegally copied.

Sixth: The purchase of computer software programmes may make copies for his or her personal use only.


Resolution 2/8

Life Insurance

The Council discussed the papers and research on Life Insurance submitted for its consideration and also considered the resolutions passed by other Sharia Fiqh councils in this regard.

After a lengthy debate and discussion concerning the various aspects of this issue including the state of Muslims in Europe and other non-Muslim countries, and considering the practice of commercial insurance as well as co-operative insurance companies in Europe, The Council reached the following:

First: The Council affirms its resolution issued in its 6th session concerning Insurance.

Second: The Council affirms what has been issued by a number of Fiqh Councils concerning the prohibition and unlawfulness of Commercial Life Insurance and the permissibility of Co-Operative Insurance on condition that it contains no usury (Riba) or Islamically illegal dealings. The Council also affirms the Fatwa issued by the Third Fiqh Seminar held by the Kuwaiti Finance House, which was attended by a number of contemporary scholars and economists in 1413 AH (1992). This Fatwa was as follows:

  • The traditional method of Insurance which is based upon the renewed amounts which are deemed payable in the event of danger, or to be returned with its interest if no such danger arose, is considered an unlawful practice deemed by Sharia to be Haram, as it consists of usury and a substantial volume of aleatory dealings.
  • There is no Sharia objection to establishing an Insurance on one’s life if it was set upon a cooperative or joint-liability basis, in that the donor pays unrefundable installations and that risk is calculated and dispersed upon the subscribers to that particular fund. This is supported by most evidence from Quran and Sunna, which call for co-operation in all that is good and righteous, the relief of whoever is in difficulty, and welfare for Muslims’ rights and dues.

Third: Taking all the above into consideration as well as the Fatwas issued in the 6th session of the Council, it remains that the circumstances in which an insurance is deemed mandatory by virtue of law or employment, are considered permissible.

 


Resolution 3/8

A Woman embraces Islam and her Husband does not

On this issue, the Council issued the following:

Having considered the numerous papers and studies submitted for its attention over three consecutive sessions, and which carried a variety of perspectives and opinions all dealing with this problem in detail and length, observing the objectives of Sharia and relating those to principles of Fiqh. The Council also recognises and acknowledges the conditions in which the new Muslim sisters in the West find themselves when their husbands choose to remain on their religion.

The Council affirms and repeats that it is forbidden for a Muslim female to establish marriage to a non-Muslim male. This has been an issue of consensus throughout the history of this nation. However, in the case of marriage being established prior to the female entering Islam, the Council has decided the following:

First: If both husband and wife revert to Islam and there is no Sharia objection to their marriage in the first place, such as particular blood relations or relations established as a result of breast-feeding, which deems the very establishment of marriage unlawful, the marriage shall be deemed valid and correct.

Second: If the husband reverts to Islam alone, and no object to the establishment of marriage exists and the woman is a Jew or a Christian, then the marriage shall be deemed valid and correct.

Third: If the wife reverts to Islam and her husband remains on his religion, the Council sees the following:

  • If her reversion to Islam occurred and the marriage is yet to be consummated, then they must immediately separate.
  • If her reversion to Islam occurred after the consummation of marriage, and the husband also embraced Islam before the expiry of her period of waiting, then the marriage is deemed valid and correct.
  • If her reversion to Islam occurred after the consummation of marriage, and the period of waiting expired, she is allowed to wait for him to embrace Islam even if that period was a lengthy one. Once he does so and reverts to Islam, then their marriage is deemed valid and correct.
  • If the wife chose to marry another man after the expiration of the period of waiting, she must first request a dissolution of marriage through legal channels.

Fourth: According to the four main schools of jurisprudence, it is forbidden for the wife to remain with her husband, or indeed to allow him conjugal rights, once her period of waiting has expired. However, some scholars see that it is for her to remain with him, allowing him and enjoying full conjugal rights, if he does not prevent her from exercising her religion and she has hope in him reverting in Islam. The reason for this is for women not to reject entering into Islam if they realise that they are to separate from their husbands and desert their families by doing so. Those scholars based their view upon the ruling of Omar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah Be pleased with him, in the case of the women from Al-Heera who reverted to Islam while her husband remained on his religion. According to the authentic narration of Yazeed ibn Abdullah Al-Khatmi, Omar ibn Al-Khattab gave the woman the choice: “If she wishes to leave him, or if she wishes to stay with him”. These scholars also base their opinion upon the view of Ali ibn Abi Talib concerning the Christian woman who reverts to Islam and is married to a Christian or a Jew; that her husband is more deserving of his conjugal rights, as he has a contract. This is also an authentic narration. It is also known that Ibraheem Al-Nakha’i, Al-Shi’bi and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman had the same views.

The Council also responded to a number of questions on various matters which were sent to the General Secretariat.

Recommendations

  • The Council calls upon all Muslims to observe the rights and dues of others, and to reflect the beautiful image of Islam. The Council also calls upon Muslims to be creative and to encourage such tendencies on all levels.
  • The Council calls upon Muslims who live in Europe to seriously and actively pursue the establishment of financial establishments and companies which deal in aspects of co-operative insurance and the such, and to contact similar co-operative insurance companies in the West to agree with them to remove any sharia objections to such dealings, such as usury (Riba) and to establish co-operative funds clear of such prohibitions.
  • The Council calls upon Mulism in Europe to actively pursue official recognition of their governments and states of Islam as a religion and Muslims as a religious minority similar to other religious minorities who enjoy their full rights and practice matters of their religion freely and without restriction, such as regulating issues of personal status including marriage and divorce. The Council also encourages Muslims to establish Sharia councils which overlook these aspects of Muslims’ lives according to the pure Islamic Sharia within the laws of the land.
  • The Council also calls upon Muslims to fully observe the commands of the Quran, Sunna and the consensus of Islamic scholars concerning the obligation of Muslims to fulfil the conditions of residence and citizenship in European countries by virtue of which they live on these lands, including the following:

  1. a) The firm belief that the lives, wealth and honour of non-Muslims must never be transgressed upon in accordance with the agreement and treaty by which entry to these countries was granted, and without which such entry would never have been granted nor allowed. Allah Almighty stated in the Holy Quran: “…and fulfil your treaties. Verily, treaties will be accounted for”.
  2. b) To respect and abide by the laws of these lands which have welcomed them, given them shelter, granted them protection and allowed them to prosper and enjoy all means of good living. Allah Almighty stated in the Holy Quran: “Is the reward of good, but good”.
  3. c) To refrain from all means of false and illegal livelihood, such as the attempt of some Muslims to gain Social Security benefits whilst maintaining proper employment or practising a trade.
  4. d) To spend all their efforts in bringing up the young generations, both boys and girls, in a modern Islamic manner, through establishing schools and educational and recreational centres, so that they may be protected from going astray.

  • The Council also advises all Muslims and those living in the West particularly, to hold tight to the bond of Allah Almighty and to the principles of brotherhood, forgiveness and moderation, and to co-operate in all that is good and pious. In addition, Muslims are to abide by the Islamic manners of debate and dialogue concerning controversial issues, away from extremism which offers only a blemished and false reflection of Islam and greatly harms Muslims. We must realise that such actions, will undoubtedly be taken advantage of by the enemies of Islam and those who are ignorant. Allah Almighty stated in the Holy Quran: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful remembrance and argue with them in the way that is best”.

The European Council for Fatwa and Research, having convened this session in Valencia, Spain, considers that this is a positive step towards an effective dialogue between the Islamic and Western civilisations, thus ending their historical struggle amongst each other and opening the door for the betterment of the world in the light of more understanding and appreciation and in the shade of human and spiritual ethics, morals and values. 

The Closing of the Session 

Before the session was officially closed, the Council members agreed with the General Secretariat to hold the following two sessions on the following dates:

  • The 9th session in Paris on 23-27/11/1422 AH, corresponding to 6-10/2/2002.
  • The 10th session in Stockholm, Sweden on 19-23/6/1423 AH, corresponding to 28/8 – 1/9/2002.

The President of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and all members wish to extend their gratitude and appreciation to the administration and staff of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Valencia for their organisation of the 8th session and their warm welcome and delightful hosting thereof. The Council wishes also to thank the Spanish government which granted its members permission to enter its lands and to facilitate all matters in that respect. The Coucil also wishes to express its appreciation to all concerned bodies including Valencia Airport Authority and the Spanish press and media for their extensive coverage of this session. Also, the Council’s thanks and gratitude go to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily newspaper and Al-Europiyya periodical for their extensive coverage. Last but not least, the Council expresses its appreciation and thanks to Al-Maktoum Charitable Committee, for covering the expenses of this session and its continued support of the European Council for Fatwa and Research.

Praise and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammed, his descendants and companions and praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

 

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