Back to search

What is the difference between "What is the Sharia's view on this matter?", "What is your opinion on the matter?", and "What is the ruling on the matter?", and is there any disliked aspect in some of them, and what is the correct approach for the questioner when seeking a fatwa?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

First: The phrases "What is the opinion of the Sharia/religion/Islam?" are religiously impermissible, because an opinion can be right or wrong, whereas Allah's ruling is definitive and cannot be described as an opinion.

Second: The phrases "What is your opinion on the matter?" are permissible in matters of ijtihad (independent juristic reasoning), because they express the opinion of the mujtahid, not Allah's ruling itself.

Third: The phrases "What is the ruling on the matter?" are also permissible; scholars have affirmed and used them.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy