Reflecting on the responsibilities of issuing fatwas in the digital age, Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah observed: The need to regulate the issuing of fatwas and place it on a sound institutional footing becomes all the more pressing as newly arising questions multiply, their dimensions intertwine, and their reach extends into every sphere of life. The fatwa has passed beyond the gathering of the questioner and the mufti into a vast digital realm, where answers are severed from their context and circulated beyond the time and place of their issuance, sometimes to be applied to circumstances for which they were never intended. Artificial intelligence tools produce answers that may appear complete, yet may conflate juristic positions, disregard differences in circumstances, or attribute statements to sources in which they are nowhere to be found. Moreover, those unqualified for the task venture to issue fatwas without a sound understanding of the realities of the matters before them, or due discernment of the consequences of their rulings. All of this makes careful verification, rigorous standards and clearly established responsibility for the fatwa an ever more urgent necessity.

A new book by His Excellency Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, the eminent scholar and Chairman of the UAE Council for Fatwa, has recently been released during the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Entitled “Monetary Endowments: Between the Meanings of the Sacred Texts and the Requirements of Recognised Public Interest - A Contemporary Study of Juristic Foundations”, its publication was announced alongside the fair’s activities, drawing considerable interest from researchers and specialists in Islamic financial jurisprudence and Islamic economics. The book offers a fresh juristic approach to the foundational questions surrounding the endowment of liquid assets and paper currency. Shaykh Bin Bayyah highlights the role of duly recognised public interest in extending endowments beyond their traditional, fixed forms, such as buildings and land, towards more flexible arrangements that support development, operate through financial obligations and respond to the needs of contemporary society. The principal themes explored in the book include: Juristic foundations: An examination of the legal evidence and the positions of the schools of Islamic jurisprudence concerning the permissibility of endowing movable assets and property depleted through use. The objectives of investment: An exploration of mechanisms for investing monetary endowments through endowment funds and contemporary investment portfolios. Emerging economic challenges: An analysis of the effects of inflation and exchange rate fluctuations, alongside the rulings governing investment returns in the context of endowment-funded benevolent loans. This publication forms part of Shaykh Bin Bayyah’s continuing project of scholarly renewal in the fields of Islamic legal theory and the higher objectives of Islamic law. It is currently available to readers and researchers at the publisher’s stand at the fair.