Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA)
Praise be to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messengers and their followers until the Final Day.
The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) is a body of recognized and qualified Islamic scholars from the United States and Canada who accept the Quran and authentic Sunnah as the primary sources of Islam. Furthermore FCNA is guided by the judicial heritage of the Prophet’s companions and the legal rulings and methodology of established classical normative Muslim scholarship.
Introduction
The realities of life for North American Muslims are quite diverse and challenging. There is a constant need for proper assessment of these challenges within an Islamic legal framework by drafting in depth Islamic analysis of our new realities and their timely Shari‘atic solutions. There is a growing demand within the North American Muslim community for sound mainstream scholarship and FCNA tries to help fill that void of scholarship.
History of the Fiqh Council
FCNA traces its historical roots back to the Religious Affairs Committee of the former Muslim Students Association (MSA) of the United States and Canada in the early 1960s. Within the span of our forty years, the Fiqh Committee of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was the next step in our history in the 1980s.. As the needs and complexities of the North American Muslim community continued to grow, the Fiqh Committee was transformed into the Fiqh Council of North America in 1986.
FCNA is a fully independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. As a sister affiliate of ISNA we are able to disseminate our scholarship and policies to the greater North American Muslim community; helping to advise and educate members and constituents on matters related to the application of the Islamic legal principles in their individual and collective lives within their respective North American societies. As an independent scholarship organization, FCNA’s dealing of various Islamic jurisprudential issues, their derivative methodologies and decision-making policy is completely self-governing and without any external interference or influence whatsoever.
FCNA also closely monitors outside Islamic legal opinions of other Muslim juristic bodies and benefits from the scholarly works of renowned jurists everywhere.
The Methodology
The Fiqh Council of North America strives to guide the North American Muslim community through the dissemination of authentic Islamic knowledge and sound legal decrees.
The qualified members of FCNA conduct juristic research that focuses on resolving the ever-increasing modern jurisprudential issues in accordance with the pristine objectives of Islamic law and the general welfare of the entire community.
FCNA attempts to harmonize varying jurisprudential points of views, scholarly opinions and exegetical interpretations in efforts to unify Muslim legal voices and issue mainstream collective decrees in matters of concern to Muslim life in North America.
The Council depends upon authentic Islamic legal sources and the sound and established legal evidences to derive its decrees.
Based on classical Islamic jurisprudence, the issuance of legal opinions within Islam depends upon the agreed upon sources of Islamic law like the Qur’an, the Sunnah, plurality consensus and legal analogy.
Any areas or sources of legislation where there is no clear consensus, including, but not limited to: alistihsaan, al-maslahah al-mursalah, sadd adh-dharaai’, al-istishaab, al-‘urf,madhhab as-sahaabi and all other relevant matters before FCNA shall be applied in accordance accepted norms of Islamic jurisprudence.
FCNA gives great credence to the overall maqasid (objectives) of Islamic law; gives proper care and context to the soundness of textual evidences or contextual proofs, while also meticulously attributing the evidences to their original references. The fundamental governing principle of the Council is proper recognition of the new realities of Muslim life, a growing need for a newer and more enlightened jurisprudential outlook and facilitation of yusr (ease) within established legal boundaries and frameworks. FCNA issues its legal opinions usually based upon the consensus of its distinguished members or a two-thirds super-majority of quorum members in attendance.
Any opposing or abstaining members have the right to confirm their positions in the presence of the
Council and the FCNA confirms legal opinions originating from many qualified individuals and agencies after their presentations to the Council and its approval.
Activities & Meetings
The Council holds its General Body meeting at least once a year. The Executive Committee usually meets every quarter and also communicates via email and telephonic conferences regularly. FCNA has provided leadership to the North American Muslim on many important fronts. Some of its members have been instrumental in ushering a new era of jurisprudential discussions about the Laws of Minorities, while others are constantly engaged in formulating and directing the legal discussions of countless Islamic issues of great significance via seminars, webcasts conferences and conventions.
Many publications on various Islamic legal issues have their point of origin in lively FCNA discussions. The Council has gone through a recent phase of reevaluation of its activities and priorities and its members intend to rejuvenate FCNA with additional vigor.
FCNA regularly receives questions, inquiries and comments via email, mail, website and telephone. FCNA provides a number of services, including but not limited to: arbitration, counseling, training in numerous Islamic educational fields, fatwa services and specialized lecture series and symposiums. It works closely with other ecumenical bodies and helps in matters of interfaith and community building. The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) is a voluntary organization and depends upon generous donations from the community and community based organizations. Your generous support is tax deductible and highly appreciated both in practical and spiritual terms.
Mission
To provide guidance to the Muslims of North America in all matters related to Shariah by answering constituent questions, writing research policy papers and holding conferences and seminars related to Islamic legal principles in North America. . Also, FCNA provides essential information to the general public in North America on Islamic matters by issuing clear and concise legal statements from within a mainstream Islamic legal paradigm.
Members
Council Executive Committee
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, CHAIRMAN
Sh. Muhammad Nur Abdullah, VICE CHAIRMAN
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dr. Mohamad A. El Sheikh, EXECUTIVE MEMBER
Dr. Jamal Badawi, EXECUTIVE MEMBER
Sh. Abdur Rahman Khan, EXECUTIVE MEMBER
Dr. Zainab Alwani, EXECUTIVE MEMBER
Council Members
Dr. Ihsan Bagby
Dr. Deina Abdelkader
Dr. Muneer Fareed
Shaikh Muhammad Hanooti
ImamYahya Hendi
Dr. Yusuf Z. Kavakci
Dr. Muhammad Qatanani
Imam Hassan Qazwini
Dr. Ali Sulaiman Ali