Saudi Shura Council member and advisor to the Saudi Justice Ministry Sheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-'Obikan has said that a religious body should be established to oversee the issuance of fatwas.
He said that the body should include at least 100 Muslim clerics from all schools of Islam, who would examine the fatwas before issuing them.
He added that sometimes the public does not know who issued a fatwa or what the source for it was, and thus it is not clear whether such a fatwa can be trusted.
(See also "Al-Arabiya Poll: Majority Against Multiple Bodies Issuing Fatwas".)
Source: Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 25, 2008
