Malaysian Fatwa Websites Studies

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Malaysian Fatwa Websites Studies

Najwa Hayaati Binti

Mohd

Alwi

General Studies Center Islamic University College of Malaysia, Bandar Barzc Nilai, 71800, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan ,

Tel : 06-7988758, Fax : 06-7988238, E-mail : [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Currently Malaysia has 14 mufti's department head by a mufti (scholar) for each department.

This department located at each state in Malaysia. With the emergence of ICT usage, fatwa is also hope to be promulgated using the Internet or speciJically the websites to the Muslims through out the world. This fundamental paper will discuss the websites that are use for fatwa promulgation in Malaysia. The main objective of the research done is to identz&

whether fatwa website are develop for each state and identi& the functions of the website. The methodology used is website search and then go through the features whether the website related to the needs and functions. Some of the findings discover that many of muftis department developed the websitesfor the fatwa. Anyway the function and services provided are limited Furthermore usability features in a website being not$ed and tabled for discussion. The findings also discuss the challenges that limit the website extend usage.

Keywords

fatwa, promulgation, website.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

In the Muslim's living, beside Al Quran and Sunnah, fatwa has also become one of the significant references. The dynamic development in science and technology has stimulated numerous new issues that need explanation through fatwa. Allah S.W.T has said:

"Therefore ask of those who possess the Message (knowledge) ifyou don't know"

(Al-Quran. An-Nahl 16:43) The fatwa will guide the Muslim toward the problems that occurred and this will also ensure the integrity of Islam and unity of Muslim.

The process of issuing and managing fatwa has to be done carefully and ethically by the authorized parties since fatwa involved sensitive issues and thus whatever decision of fatwa made will give a big impact to the Muslim society. Currently the process of fatwa issuing in Malaysia does take quite some time before the fatwa would be released to the Muslim. The collecting and gathering information, the discussion, the agreement from the authorities and the promulgation acquire more the time and energy.

Therefore the usage of ICT in the processes could reduce the time and minimize redundant task.

Nowadays, the information, communication and Nevertheless before using the ICT , planning and designing of ICT tools must carefully take place technology have been extensively employed since

so that it will work effectively and meet the goal it has been well recognized by many people. The

of using the ICT.

acceptance of ICT is also not only from the city or urban area but also from the rural community.

At present Malaysia has 14 mufti's department This new phenomenon has transformed the way

head by a mufti (scholar) for each department.

of executing daily job and the communications

This department which located at each state in process which make the life more efficient and

Malaysia had produced many fatwa that relevant effective.

to the Muslim society needs. With the emergence of ICT usage, fatwa is also hope to be

This paper was presented at International Conference on Information and

Communication Technology on The Muslim Worlds 2006

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promulgated using the Internet and specifically issues that they would like to know. For example, the websites to the Muslims through out the to get fatwa decision about botox usage that have world. This paper will discuss the fundamental been decide or gazetted in Malaysia, and suppose study that has been carried out on Malaysia Fatwa if the information is available in the Internet, the

website. related information could be gathered faster.

2.0 SIGNIFICANT OF WEBSITE IN PROMULGATION OF FATWA

With the evolutions o f communication technology, more information can be reached through websites on the Internet either it is the constructive or destructive information. Currently not many Islam related information is published on the Internet. Thus it is wise to put fatwa at the same par with others important information. This can be done by making the fatwa ready for every one at any time and anywhere.

Previously, the decision of fatwa being spread or announce to the public using two methods which are printed media and electronic media. The promulgation of fatwa via printed media such as booklet, pamphlet, brochure and magazine or using electronic media announcement such as TV or radio or even in a seminar and sermon are not enough to benefit every people. The printed material will take more time to be produced and to be circulated. Even so, the printed material still cannot reach all Muslim in this world. This method also will involve a huge expenditure. On the other hand, the promulgation through electronic media is a one-time announcement.

Once it is over it will not be played again and those who do not have the chance to listen or watch the announcement through electronic media will not be informed about the fatwa. Therefore promulgation through this method is seemed incomplete.

The objective of promulgation of fatwa is to announce the decision that had been made by the authorized parties about certain issues related to Islam. Therefore it is essential to make an effort so that all Muslim are aware of the new released fatwa or even the previous fatwa that had been issued.

Therefore to complement the above methods the fatwa issued is also promulgate by using the Internet. The information about fatwa can be access faster and easier since it is available in the Internet. Normally a website will be set up and every Internet user can search on fatwa of certain

Publishing fatwa on the Internet is actually giving the opportunity to the fatwa information to be retrieved by everyone. Therefore, a necessary element to be considered when placing the information on the Internet is the security and legitimate issues. The services providers of fatwa have to make sure all the information about fatwa are trustful and reliable. This is important since the information published will be a guidance or reference to the Muslim for heir daily activities.

Using this method also allows every people including non Muslim all over the world to get to know about Islam. The information published on the Internet can be reviewed and shared by everyone who has the online connection throughout the world. Consequently, this make the fatwa widely spread to more people and concurrently give positive and accurate information about Islam.

The information can't be accessed or retrieved if there is no service provider for fatwa in the Internet. Therefore it is important to set up a system where all of information about fatwa is collected and this information is made available on the website to be access by Muslim through Internet access. A website and a database about fatwa should be plan and design by the people who understand ^.the fatwa management and assisted of the ICT skilled people to implement the design. This is essential to develop a quality and reliable system.

The infrastructures need to be well considered.

Suitable type of hardware and software will ensure the proper result of the ICT implementations in certain management. As well infrastructure, the man power and skill is essential too. The ICT is useless without the user or the person to manage and handle all of the ICT tools.

The ICT skilled person together with the fatwa knowledge can plan and design what are the suitable information and communication technologies and tools needed in order to make the fatwa available in the Internet.

3.0 OBJECTIVES

'This paper was presented at International Conference on Information and

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department to another.

The research was done based on the three main objectives. First objective is to identify whether fatwa website are develop for each state. This is very important to acknowledge since not all department in each states has the capabilities to initiate the website due to some reasons. Second objectives is to identify the function or usage of the website developed. This can be seen through the features and services offer by the website.

Lastly the research would like to identify the challenges in making a website as a source of information.

4.0 METHODOLOGY

Table I : Fatwa websites in Malaysia.

5.1 Fatwa website for each department.

There are 14 mufti departments in Malaysia. Not every department has initiated the website for fatwa. 71.4% has the website for fatwa while 28.6% do not have. This data is based on the web research done until 1st July 2006. The table 1 shows the address of the websites for each department.

Anyway from the listed website only 60% of the addresses are usable. 40% of the addresses are reported as bad link. The result is shown in table The methodology used in collecting data for this 2.

research is by website search. Once the address is

found it is necessary to ensure the website exist or ^Table^2:Usability ofthe website not. The next step is then going through the

features whether it related to the needs and functions. The process is more to the comparison process for each reliable fatwa website. Addition to that a set of questionnaire is developed to gather further information about the ICT usage and responses from the mufti departments were analyzed.

5.0 FINDINGS

From the analysis of the website search, findings manage to derive. Some of the findings discover that many of mufti's department developed the websites for the fatwa. Anyway the function and services provided are various from one

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5.2 Function and usage of Fatwa website.

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Using ICT or specifically publishing the fatwa in the web will give the opportunity to the Muslim to have legitimate references from reliable sources and with faster access. The promulgation of fatwa using the website does offer enormous implications to the Muslim. Information is easily accessed and gathered. In addition to that, many people and researcher can have the information about fatwa from the Internet.

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Second finding from this research is the function or usage of the website developed. According to the research done, there are two main hnctions of the website which are to promote or provide information about the Mufti's department of each state and second is to provide a platform or reference of fatwa decision. 100% of the usable website had served the information about the Mufti's Departments state. The information that can be found such as history of the department,

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The

laper was presented at 'onference on Information and

Technology on mus slim Worlds 2006

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divisions, information that related to fatwa and falaq, relevant links especially related to fatwa.

50% of the website provides the fatwa decision that can be read by the surfer. Most of the fatwa published were the gazette fatwa at each state.

This information can be found by choosing the link that will bring the surfer to the e-fatwa portal or from the state database of website itself.

The language used for the website is Malay language. Only Melaka provide the English as the alternative language to the surfer in the website.

All website provide interactive environment the surfer can post any questions or communicate sing. forum provided. The interactive environment though can be classified as the asynchronous communication since the surfer cannot get the answer promptly. The website provides a sufficient human computer interface (HCI). The information visualization is attractive and suits the concept of Islamic website. The accessing time is also can be consider tolerable.

Table 3: Features ofMalaysian fahva website

The department still shortage in number of staff.

Normally the officer manages the website update and maintenadce besides his official job. Only Mufti Department of Selangor has an Information System Officer that handles the entire ICT related task. Therefore most of the person handle or manage the website are limited of ICT skills yet they cope with the task adequately. Figure 1 shows the problems that encounter by the staff in Mufti Departments

System fims

Figure I : The problems faced by the respondents while using the ICT.

Problems can never be avoided while using the

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system administration, website design, and ICT. Most of the problem faced by the departments is virus attacking. Due to this most of

J J I J tolerable the files have been affected. This will delay the

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database management. The person as well must 5.3 Challenges in making a website as a

know to overcome the technical problems. Other source of information.

problems that have been facing by the departments besides the problems that have been Cyber Islamic environments have the potential to

mentioned above are the computer malfunction, transform aspects of religious understanding and

fast changes of technology, and financial expression within Muslim contexts, and the power

problems.

to enable elements within Muslim populations to

that most of the departments need are the skills on

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dialog with each other (Bunt, 2003); Access to the

Most of the Mufti's department shares the server Internet specifically a website is important in

with the Majlis Agama Negeri, According to the Gililding a strong networking and promulgating

research done one of the reason of inadequate ICT the fatwa to the Muslim. Nevertheless there are infrastructure and equipments is because of challenges that limit the website extended usage

limited budget.

which are known to all the website and internet as the best information provided not considering the

legitimization of the content itself. 6.0 CONCLUSION

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The challenges and limitations that occur in Developing a website for the purpose of preparing the website for each department include promulgation fatwa does offer enormous limited workforce and skills and inadequate ICT implications to the Muslim. ICT could be the infrastructure and equipment. suitable tools to enhance the management and dissemination of fatwa if it is well plan and design. Information is easily accessed and

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tolerable tolerable tolerable tolerable tolerable

action of decision-making and disseminating.

Lack of skills becomes the second obstacles.

From the interview sessions, the specific skills

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gathered. Many people and researcher can have the information about fatwa from the Internet.

Furthermore, more people can access the information easily and thus encourage to the use of fatwa as apart of reference in the Muslim life.

The effort of uploading the information of fatwa in the Internet by Mufti's Department must be acknowledged and credited. Despite the challenges and limitation that they are facing still they manage to prepare the website of fatwa to the surfer.

For dissemination purpose, placing information on the internet is one of the quick ways. At any rate it is important for the user to ensure the information come from the trustable sources and is reliable. The information providers also have to emphasize on the securities issues so that the information special fatwa that are published in the Internet is not being edited and manipulated by irresponsible parties.

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http:/lwww.e-fatwa.pov.niy/e-fatwa asp l~ttp:l!www.isla~n.n,ov.my

l~ttp:ll~nuftiperak.n,ov.my http;//www.jaheik.gov.my

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