Latent role of the islamic responsa (fatwa) in the saudi legal system during the precodification period

Abstract

The General Presidency of Scholarly Research Ifta) (the Dar al-Ifta)) was established as part of the Saudi government's policies of bureaucratization and institutionalization in 1953. In the absence of a constitutionally binding source of legislation, the Saudi government could consult the Dar al-Ifta) to issue a fatua with the intention of either standardizing a legal ruling or enacting a law. For instance, the fatawa regarding abduction/usurpation and drugs/alcohol were transformed into a legal regulation that considerably facilitated judges' (gadis) application of the prescribed penalties. Before starting the codification process, many social regulations and norms (e.g., the segregation of sexes, women's dress codes, and the legality of forensic autopsies) could also be traced back to the latc7ua issued by the Dar al-Ifta). This article intends to elucidate the complementary role of fatawa in Saudi society as well as the judicial and legislative system by referring to the fatawa transformed by royal decrees into legal regulations before the codification period. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the role of the practice of lila' within the Saudi politico-legal area for the precodification period.