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Bangladesh
Fatwa doesn't have any legal force
2011-04-26
[Bangla Daily Star] Eminent jurists Rafique-ul Huq and Dr M Zahir yesterday told the Supreme Court that fatwa (religious edict) is a kind of opinion without any legal force.
Go have religious force, O fatwazers, and leave legality to the legal experts!
They said this while offering expert opinions as amici curiae (friends of court) to the Appellate Division during the hearing of an appeal against a High Court verdict that had declared fatwa illegal.

Senior counsel TH Khan, another amicus curiae, favoured the appeal saying fatwa should not be declared outright as good or bad.
Waffler. The question isn't how good it is, but whether it has legal force. Honestly -- you'd think a senior counsel would be able to read the words on the paper in front of him.
A six-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, will continue hearing the appeal today.

As per the constitution, everybody has the right to give fatwa as an opinion, but cannot instigate others to commit a criminal offence, Rafique-ul Huq told the court.

Nobody can punish anyone in the name of fatwa and any aggrieved person can move to the court against the instigators, he added.

He also observed the HC verdict imposing a complete ban on fatwa is not right.

M Zahir opined anybody can give fatwa as advice but must not interfere into other's rights. He apprehended social problems if the SC makes fatwa permissible.

If the SC declares fatwa illegal as a whole, it will be an injustice, mentioned TH Khan adding, it could lead to a movement in the society.
They'll riot about it. They can't help themselves, and someone will have to clean up the mess.
The court should be confined within the facts of the case, rather than giving any venture opinion on this issue, added the legal expert.

On January 1, 2001, the HC declared illegal all punishments imposed in the name of fatwa after a hearing on its own suo moto ruling. The court issued the ruling following a newspaper report on hilla marriage (marriage with a third person).

Two maulanas -- Mufti Mohammad Toyeeb and Abul Kalam Azad -- challenged the verdict at the SC in the same year.
And now, a mere ten years later,
The apex court started hearing the appeal on March 1 this year.
Posted by:Fred

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