The European Council for Fatwa and Research as an institution of panel ijtihad : Decisions and procedure

The European Council for Fatwa and Research issues fatwas and decisions collectively for usually issues and problems that take place in Europe and concern the Muslim minorities there based on the main studies of the religion such as the Qur'an, sunnah and ijma and methods such as qiyas, istihsan, sadd all-dhara'i and maslahah. This study aims to conduct a scientific analysis by comparing the decisions and fatwas issued by this institution to the main assumptions of sects. The introduction part of the study discusses fatwa, hukm, ijtihad and the differences among them, and it explains what panel ijtihad is. Section I introduces the institutional structure of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and discusses its internal regulations it guarantees to abide by in its fatwas and decisions. Statistical explanations are then made on the research, magazines, sessions, decisions and fatwas published by the Council. In Section II, some fatwas and decisions included in the agenda of the Council are examined by dividing into groups according to the bases that the Council considers while issuing a fatwa or decision. It may be stated that, while the Council abode by its internal regulations while issuing hukm, it also depended on the approaches of the Sunni sects of fiqh. Nevertheless, in very rare cases, it gets outside the four sects and issues fatwas in compliance with some Sahabi and Tabi'un scholars. Additionally, an emphasis on maslahah and customs is noticeable in many fatwas and decisions of the Council.