From the “Fiqh of Minorities” to the “Fiqh of Presence”: A Methodological Shift in the Work of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (1997–2023)

This article examines the methodological shift in the work of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), a body for collective ijtihād for Muslims in Europe. Drawing on a corpus of resolutions and policy documents from the early period (1997–2010), as well as the set of resolutions from the Council’s 34th Ordinary Session (Istanbul, 2023), the article describes the transition from the predominantly reactive paradigm of “Fiqh of Muslim Minorities” (fiqh al-aqalliyyāt), focused on the adaptation through relaxations in Sharia (rukhaṣ), the principle of necessity (ḍarūra), and the regulated facilitation (taysīr), to the integrative concept of “Fiqh of Presence” (fiqh al-ḥuḍūr), aimed at naturalization and civil integration and constructive participation while preserving religious identity. The methodology of the study includes textual analysis of the ECFR’s regulations, content analysis of the key terminology, and a comparison of the set of resolutions 1/34–7/34 and recommendations with the documents of early period. It shows that elements of the “Fiqh of Citizenship” (fiqh al-muwāṭana) are already formed in early materials through the concept of social contract, public good (maṣlaḥa), and civic participation. The analysis of the regulations of the 34th Session reveals a systematic methodological framework, namely, the focus of ijtihād on the objectives of Sharia and taking into account the consequences (ma’ālāt), a limited application of the principle of facilitation, rejection of fanatical commitment to any single madhhab and the institutionalization of fatwā revision (murāja‘at). It also includes the development of predictive fiqh (fiqh al-istishrāf), as well as the legitimation of selective ijtihād and an ordered selection of opinions within the tradition. The article concludes that the “Fiqh of Presence” of the ECFR constitutes a coherent regulatory and methodological model for Muslims’ sustainable and law-abiding presence as part of European society within the modern European legal order.

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