Muslimske minoriteter i Vesten. En studie av IslamOnlines fatwaer

Abstract

Denne oppgaven undersøker hvordan og i hvilken grad det populære tospråklige nettstedet IslamOnline tilpasser og anvender den islamske loven til de muslimske minoritetenes situasjon i Vesten gjennom sine fatwaer. For å belyse dette har jeg valgt å belyse følgende problemstillinger: Hvordan anbefaler IslamOnline muslimene i Vesten å forholde seg i de tilfellene hvor det vestlige landets lover strider mot shari'ah? Anser de muslimske spørsmålsstillerne seg som en religiøs minoritet i diaspora i Vesten eller fremstår de som en integrert del av det vestlige samfunnet som de lever i? Oppmuntrer fatwaene de muslimske minoritetene til å være aktive deltakere i det vestlige samfunnet og på hvilke måter skal de i så fall delta? Målsetningen med å besvare disse spørsmålene har vært å få en bedre forståelse av hvilke temaer og problemstillinger som opptar de muslimske minoritetene i Vesten i dag. I tillegg kan fatwaene være med på å øke vår kunnskap om hvordan islamske lærde håndterer nye problemstillinger som ikke er omhandlet i shari'ah.

In this thesis I will explore the use of fatwas as a source of information for lay Muslims residing in the West on how to lead a life according to the Islamic principles. Muslim minorities in the West today find themselves in a vacuum with regard to Islamic jurisprudence. They lack central religious authorities and the Islamic law Shari'ah lack regulations concerning their situation and challenges living in non-Muslim countries. This void between the lives of the Muslim minorities and Shari'ah has during the past few years become the object of increased attention. Islamic law for Muslim minorities (fiqh al-aqallīyāt) is a new and unexplored field in the science of Islamic law, where the Islamic website IslamOnline.net is currently developing solutions for the challenges facing Muslim minorities in Western countries through fatwas published on their websites. In their fatwas IslamOnline's muftis are to supply and adapt the Shari'ah to the needs of millions of Muslim residing in the West, gradually trying to implement these new jurisdictions into the branches of Islamic jurisprudence. The main focus of this thesis has been to explore how and to what degree IslamOnline adapts and applies the Islamic law to the situation of the Muslim minorities through their fatwas. In order to explore this I have chosen to focus on the following questions: How does IslamOnline recommend the Muslims residing in the West to deal with the situations where the laws of the Western country contradict the Shari'ah? Do the Muslim questioners regard themselves as a religious minority living in Diaspora in the West or do they function as an integrated part of Western society? Does the fatwas encourage the Muslim minorities to be active participants of the Western society, and in which ways should they participate? The main purpose of these questions has been to achieve a better understanding of what subjects and questions that the Muslim minorities in the West today are concerned with. Besides, the fatwas can increase our knowledge on how Islamic scholars deal with new questions which is not dealt with in the Shari'ah.