Tragically, many Muslims conflate iftāʾ and qaḍāʾ, and although each course of action establishes a religious verdict, different laws govern them. In this brief discourse, we will only explore some differences between them since highlighting the existence of one overlooked difference originating from their different laws of governance is the main objective.
Iftāʾ, often translated as seeking a fatwá or a religious verdict, can be defined as clarifying a religious non-binding verdict to the questioner. The clarification is called the fatwá, the questioner is called the mustaftī, the scholar…
Narrated by Abū Dāwūd on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAmr al-Sulamī and Ḥujr ibn Ḥujr who said: We once visited the companion al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah—among the men regarding whom the following verse was revealed:
وَلَا عَلَى الَّذِينَ إِذَا مَا أَتَوْكَ لِتَحْمِلَهُمْ قُلْتَ لَا أَجِدُ مَا أَحْمِلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ تَوَلَّوا وَّأَعْيُنُهُمْ تَفِيضُ مِنَ الدَّمْعِ حَزَنًا أَلَّا يَجِدُوا مَا يُنفِقُونَ
“Nor (is there blame) on those who came to you to be provided with mounts, and when you said: “I can find no mounts for you,” they turned back, while their eyes overflowed with tears of grief…
