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Fatwa on the satellite channels — its benefit and harm

الفتوى على الفضائيات — نفعها وضررها

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode on satellite fatwa programmes, no longer private to the questioner but heard by millions 1. The youth voted on why people turn to them: ease of access first, 35% to reach the most-learned, 20% for less-strict answers; 2 on whom to ask: 43% the country's scholars, only 15% satellite scholars, 42% fiqh bodies and academies; 3 and on the solution: 39% for one option, 31% for restricting to collective fatwa over individual ijtihad 4.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Contemporary Era
Region
Arab world · Global / Diaspora
Review
Completeness 2/5 · Help complete it

Cinema and screen mediaLaw and courts

The episode and the question

The 'Al-Wasatiyya' episode debated the satellite-fatwa phenomenon — the fatwa no longer private to its questioner but heard by millions everywhere, so scholars differed and complaints multiplied 5 1 6.

Why people turn to it

The youth voted on the reasons: ease of access first, 35% because it reaches a more-learned person than those around them, and 20% because it gives less-strict answers 7 2.

Whom to ask

On the reference: 43% chose their country's scholars, 42% the fiqh bodies and academies, and only 15% 'the most-learned on the channels' — a surprise the host noted 3.

The solution — regulation or collective fatwa only

On solving the satellite-fatwa problems, 39% voted one option and 31% for restricting channels to transmitting collective fatwas and abandoning individual ijtihad on air 4.

Opinions on the question

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Basis: Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) al-wassitiya ep13, 00:32:00-01:09:00

People and things also explored

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)· Democracy and the Sharia — compatibility and conflict· Arab satellite channels — evaluating the experiment· Secularism and Islam — conflict or concord· Stoning (rajm) as a penalty for zina· Allusion to a proposal during the waiting period· Aman (safe-conduct granted to enemies in war)· Amana (trust, deposit and what is entrusted)

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:01:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  2. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:09:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:32:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  4. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 01:08:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  5. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:01:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  6. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:02:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  7. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Al Wassitiya, episode 13, at 00:08:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Fatwa on the satellite channels — its benefit and harm”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-fatwa-ala-al-fadaiyyat/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)

Ahliyya is lexically suitability, and it is of two kinds: capacity to have rights and duties, the capacity of liability; and capacity to act, that is to perform acts recognised by the law. Its bearer passes through the stages of the foetus, childhood, discernment, puberty and maturity. Liability is complete from birth and incomplete for the foetus; the capacity to act is partial at discernment and full with puberty and reason. It is affected by heavenly impediments such as madness, imbecility, sleep, fainting, illness, slavery, menstruation, childbirth and death, and by acquired ones such as ignorance, drunkenness, jest, folly, travel, error and coercion.