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What is the ruling on two ignorant individuals studying religious matters together, mentioning verses and hadiths without knowledge, unintentionally issuing fatwas, and is this better than discussing worldly affairs?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Speaking about jurisprudential issues without knowledge falls into two categories:

The first: When the speaker believes their opinion is correct and argues for it. This is impermissible because it is speaking without knowledge, and Allah Almighty says: ﴿And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge.﴾

The second: When one is not definitive about the truth but rather speaks in the context of discussion and presenting possibilities. This is permissible for developing thinking skills, like a shaykh posing a question to his students.

However, the intention of those discussing must be a desire for knowledge, not mere formality. After deliberation, it is necessary to ask people of knowledge or refer to their statements to ascertain the truth and act upon it.

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

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