MUSCAT,
March 19, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – A cohort of Muslim scholars,
intellectuals, and thinkers from across the world are huddling
together in the Omani capital Muscat to discuss the objectives of
Shari`ah.
Addressing
the opening session on Saturday, March 18, Dr. Wahbah Az-Zuhayli, head
of the Department of Fiqh at Faculty of Shari`ah, Damascus University,
called for the establishment of a special center about studies and
researches related to the objectives of Shari`ah.
He
also proposed the idea of creating a unified scholarly reference for
Muslims all over the world in order to enable Muslim scholars to guide
people to right course that secures their wellbeing and prosperity.
Dr.
Jaha Jabir Al-`Alwani, former president of the Fiqh Council of North
America, also called upon scholars and jurists to spare no efforts to
rethink early scholars' works.
He
urged innovation and courage in objectively criticizing and adding to
what early scholars have done.
The
four-day Fiqh and Objectives of the Shari`ah conference is
organized by the Omani Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs and
sponsored by Minister of the Legal Affairs Muhammad bin Ali bin Nasir
Al-`Alawi.
The
sessions are held at the lectures hall of the Sultan Qaboos Grand
Mosque, which was inaugurated on Friday, May 4, 2001.
The
mosque, which took six years of construction, is not only a place of
worship but also a seat of Islamic learning, thought, literature and
values.
Advancing
Studies
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Al-Salimi told IOL the conference is part of continued Omani efforts to contribute to advancing and studying Islamic sciences.
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Dr.
Abdulrahman al-Salimi, editor-in-chief of al-Tasamoh magazine
and head of the organizing committee, stressed the importance of
studying the objectives of Shari`ah in order to enable Muslim scholars
to offer workable and practical solutions to contemporary problems
facing world Muslims.
"This
is part of a series of seminars and conferences that the Ministry of
Awqaf and Religious Affairs organizes to contribute to advancing and
studying Islamic sciences," he told IslamOnline.net.
Dr.
Muhammad Ra'fat `Uthman, professor of Comparative Fiqh at the
Cairo-based Al-Azhar university and member of the Supreme Council for
Muslim Affair, agreed.
He
told IOL that studying the objectives of Shari`ah, along with other
necessary qualifications of the mufti, enables the scholar to
give sound rulings on the modern and contemporary issues that have no
direct texts in Shari`ah approving or disapproving.
