In case someone poses the curious inquiry on the nature of fatwas and the ways they come to be in Islam.
I believe the chart is somewhat self-explanatory, yet have it broken down textually as follows:
- A problem has been identified, based on the context and the need to comply with requirements of the Shari’a establishing a regulation (hukm) on a certain issue [e.g ‘One is not sure whether he passed wind during the prayer, what shall he do?‘].
- In case religious knowledge (‘ilm) of the requester is not found sufficient to solve it,
- Identification of authority [a ‘mufti‘] is due.
- Inquiry is submitted [online, face-to-face, through mail, etc.].
- Then it is validated by authority [‘Is that a valid, legitimate question?’].
- The identified solution issued by the religious authority, is the fatwa itself.
- Implementation of solution remains outside of the scope of the fatwa authority and documentation.
Or the same thing in a different view:
The source drawing as the raw input is also embedded.
