The Fiqh of Minorities

The Fiqh of Minorities (fiqh al-aqalliyyāt) is a relatively recent and distinct legal field that was initially formulated and introduced in the 1990s by scholars such as Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī (d. 2022) and Ṭāha Jābir al-Alwānī (d. 2016).¹ While the discourse on Muslim minorities in non-Muslim-majority countries has historically been an integral part of classical Islamic jurisprudence, it is noteworthy that, unlike contemporary times, this discourse did not lead to the creation of a specific branch of Islamic law tailored explicitly for Muslim minorities.² Fiqh al-aqalliyyāt centers around the idea that the unique circumstances faced by Muslim minorities, especially those in the West, require the development of a specialized branch of Islamic jurisprudence to address their distinctive needs. As al-Alwānī puts it, “‘Fiqh for minorities” is a specific discipline which takes into account the relationship between the religious ruling and the conditions of the community and the location where it exists.”³ According to al-Alwānī, the particular challenges faced by Muslim minorities in the West demand corresponding legal rulings that differ from those detailed in the classical Islamic tradition and that may not be suitable for other Muslim-majority communities.⁴For Abdullah Bin Bayyah (b. 1935), the objective of fiqh of minorities is to provide Muslim minorities with the necessary guidelines so that they can (1) preserve their faith and religion at an individual and collective level, (2) establish a sound relationship of interaction and coexistence with the majoritarian non-Muslim population, and (3) facilitate religious life by emphasizing the broadness of Islam and the ease of its rulings.⁵ For this purpose, Bin Bayyah conceptualizes fiqh of minorities as revolving around six major Islamic pragmatic legal principles: (1) facilitation and removal of hardship; (2) change in fatwas due to changes of time; (3) the elevation of need to the status of necessity; (4) customs; (5) taking into consideration