Fatwa is only a principle, not an order: : Darul Uloom Deoband

I wish that the above title was highlighted instead of the cheap one below under which the news item appeared.

Modelling, acting in movies un-Islamic: Darul Uloom Deoband

I think the pronouncement of the Deputy VC of Deoband, Maulana Abdul Khaligue Madrasi, '

"A Mufti issues a fatwa only if someone comes to him for guidance. Fatwa is not an order but a guidance of principal and even the person seeking guidance has the option to follow it or not", Madrasi said.

' is a very significant one.

Ever since the infamous Fatwa against writer Salman Rushdie, the world has assumed the Fatwa to be some kind of a dictatorial order passed by retrograde Mullas that is irreversible and will eventually push the world backward by several centuries. Here is a clarification that is worth pausing, examining and understanding.

The Deoband seminary has time and again broken the global stereotyping of Islamic image in India through their work, including the issuing of Fatwa against terrorism last year. Of course, a fatwa by a Islamic clergy in India is not as powerful as that emanating from among the powerful political ones in Iran, the Arab countries or USA, but, still for the quality of what is being said, this is to be noted and acknowledged as significant one.