Blanket ban on fatwa not justified: AG

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Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam Thursday opined that a blanket ban on fatwa (religious edict) cannot be justified, reports UNB. The High Court (HC) ruling banning fatwa can be modified with guidelines, he said while placing his opinion before the Appellate Division during the hearing on an appeal against the decade-old HC verdict. The chief law officer of the government said fatwa can be given if it does not go against the Constitutional laws and state principles. But it is often seen that without being asked someone declares fatwa and this cannot be acceptable, he said, adding that only persons with profound knowledge of Islam and its practice and principles can give fatwa in a given situation. Meanwhile, noted jurist Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud as amicus curiae (friend of court) backed the HC ruling on fatwa, saying that there is no place for fatwa under the constitution and existing laws of the land. "No such jurisdiction of pronouncing fatwa has been given to any 'Maulana and Imam' in the Constitution, the supreme law of the Republic," he said, adding that those who are giving fatwa in the country often lacked sufficient knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence.