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Question: What do you think about the terrible disagreement among the ‘ulamâ of the Islamic world? What is your opinion?

Answer: I consider the Islamic world a disorganised or disordered Council (Shûrâ) of consultation and assembly of deputies. We hear it from Sharî’ah that it says, “This is the judgment of jumhur1, and it is the source of the fatwa. Here, this one is the similar opinion of the majority of this assembly.” As for the opinions other than the judgment of jumhur, if these are haqiqah, and their kernels are not empty and void, they are left to the preference of the people who are qualified for ijtihad so that they can prefer one of those opinions suitable for their tarbiyyah. However, this has two important points: {It would not be a bad idea to pay attention to these two points.}

First: Although the opinion, which was preferred through the inclination of those qualified to make ijtihad, which contains haqiqah to a degree and is approved by the minority, should be confined and specific to those qualified to make ijtihad, the owner of the opinion neglected this principle and failed to limit their ijtihad to themselves. Their followers embraced the idea with iltizâm and generalised it, while their blind imitators displayed zeal and worked to demolish those who opposed that opinion to secure it. From this point, conflict, controversy, contradiction and rejection became so widespread that the dust rising from their feet, the smoke rising from their mouths and the lightning rising from their tongues formed a cloud with lightning and sometimes with rahmah; and it became a veil for the manifestation of the sun of Islam.

However, it did not remain at the level of a cloud with rahmah that grants the ability to receive favour from the sun's light. Just as it does not provide rain, it also prevents the sunlight.

Second: If the haqiqah and kernel within the opinion that was approved by the minority but not by the jumhur do not prevail over the desires of the nafs, inherited tendencies and temperaments of those qualified to make ijtihad who chose the opinion, it will be a grave error. For while those qualified to make ijtihad should be coloured by the opinion and transformed into its requirements, the desires, whims, inherited tendencies and temperaments turn the opinion towards themselves, graft themselves to it and make the opinion obey their commands. At this point, haqq and hidâyah transform into the desires of the nafs, and the path they follow is also watered by the temperament and disposition. A bee drinks water and sheds honey; a snake drinks water and sheds poison.

Question: I wonder, will not this sublime Islamic assembly be able to find order again in the universe, in this bewildered city of the globe?

Answer: I believe with all my heart that the entire Islamic world will become a sacred assembly of deputies in the nation of human beings and the tribe of Âdam. The predecessors and successors will look to each other over the centuries and form a Council (Shûrâ) of consultation among themselves. However, the first group, the elderly fathers, will listen in silence and praise.