The International Islamic Fiqh Academy

The International Islamic Fiqh Academy is an OIC body that convenes leading jurists from across the Muslim world to study contemporary problems and issue collective rulings grounded in Islamic law.

At a glance

Established by the OIC in 1981 and based in Jeddah, the Academy gathers scholars and specialists — jurists alongside doctors, economists and scientists — to deliberate on questions that classical fiqh did not directly address: matters in medicine and bioethics, finance and banking, technology and international affairs. Its resolutions represent a form of collective ijtihād, carrying the weight of a broad, cross-school assembly rather than a single scholar or country.

Its rulings on Islamic finance in particular have been influential, helping to shape the industry's treatment of instruments such as ṣukūk and its handling of ribā and gharar, though as with all such bodies its resolutions are advisory and do not bind states or other scholars. A separate Islamic Fiqh Academy operates under the Mecca-based Muslim World League, and the two are sometimes confused.

The Academy embodies the modern effort to derive law collectively for a globalised Muslim world; Chronicle's articles on uṣūl al-fiqh and the schools of law describe the methods on which its work rests.

Related in Chronicle

Curated reference on Islamic belief and thought. On matters where traditions differ, positions are attributed rather than adjudicated; verify points of doctrine with qualified scholars.