The Fatwa Policies of the High Board of Religious Affairs From Its Foundation until Today
The most important mission of the High Board of Religious Affairs, which is the highest decision making and advisory department of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey, is to make decisions on religious issues, to declare its opinion and to answer religious questions considering the main sources of Islam, its methodology and historical experience, and also the current demands and needs. In general, the High Board provides responses to the questions, which are directed by letter, e-mail or phone, according to the Hanafi madhhab which according to Turkish people used to organize their relations. If it is necessary or demanded by the citizens, it also takes the ijtihads of other madhahib into account. For daily issues, it gives fatwa benefiting from the opinions of pre-modern Islamic scholars, maxims (qawaid kulliya) derived from the Qur'an and the sunna of Prophet Muhammad. On the other hand, it doesn't neglect the experience of other fatwa councils all over the world. Even though the High Board is not sufficiently popular in the world due to a focus in publications in the Turkish language, the institution and the fatwas it has issued have great prestige and recognition among the Turkish citizens.
MUSTAFA BÜLENT DADAŞ
