Who Can Declare Something Halal or Haram? Scholars, Fatwa Councils and Certifiers Explained

In Islamic law, only God makes something halal or haram, according to the Quran and classical Islamic jurisprudence. Qualified muftis and fatwa councils interpret the sources — the Quran, the Sunnah, scholarly consensus and analogy — to reach rulings, and governments and certifiers turn some of those rulings into enforceable halal standards.

This article was first published in July 2022. It has been updated with the Quranic and hadith basis for the principle, the hierarchy of legal sources, the main fatwa bodies and how their rulings become halal certification standards in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Gulf, Europe and North America, a comparison table and a section on AI-generated “fatwas.”

Reviewed by Hafiz Maqsood Ahmed.

The question is not academic. Muslims made up 25.6 percent of the world’s population in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center, and they spent $2.43 trillion in 2023 on food, fashion, travel, media, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, including $1.43 trillion on food and drink, according to DinarStandard’s State of the Global Islamic Economy Report 2024/25. Every halal logo on that spending rests on a chain of authority that starts with scripture and runs through scholars, fatwa councils, regulators and auditors. Food companies, banks and exporters that misread who decides risk rejected shipments, revoked certificates and lost customers.

Only God makes things halal or haram, scholars agree

Muslim scholars across the schools of law hold that the power to permit and prohibit belongs to God alone; humans can only discover and apply a ruling, not create one. The Quran warns people against labeling things lawful or unlawful on their own authority.

The clearest statement is in Surah An-Nahl (16), Verse 116:

وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ ٱلْكَذِبَ هَـٰذَا حَلَـٰلٌ وَهَـٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفْتَرُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ

“And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, “This is lawful and this is unlawful,” to invent falsehood about Allāh. Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allāh will not succeed.”

Surah An-Nahl (16), Verse 116

Surah Yunus (10), Verse 59, which the original version of this article quoted, makes the same point as a question to those who divided God’s provision into lawful and unlawful without permission:

قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ لَكُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُم مِّنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلَـٰلًا قُلْ ءَآللَّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ ۖ أَمْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ

“Say, “Have you seen what Allāh has sent down to you of provision of which you have made [some] lawful and [some] unlawful?” Say, “Has Allāh permitted you [to do so], or do you invent [something] about Allāh?””

Surah Yunus (10), Verse 59

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Egyptian-born scholar, made the principle the second of 11 rules in his book The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, under the heading “To Make Lawful and to Prohibit Is the Right of Allah Alone.” Qaradawi’s third rule goes further, treating the prohibition of the lawful and the permitting of the prohibited as akin to shirk, or associating partners with God. Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid, who supervises the Saudi-based site IslamQA, gives the same answer in Question 3922, citing Surah An-Nahl and Surah Yunus. Munajjid adds that where no explicit text exists, qualified scholars may reason by analogy and by weighing harm and benefit.

That is why many classical jurists avoided the words “halal” and “haram” when a text was not explicit. Malik ibn Anas, the eighth-century founder of the Maliki madhhab, or school of Islamic jurisprudence, is reported in classical biographies to have answered “I do not know” to most of the questions put to him in a single sitting and to have preferred phrases like “I dislike this” to a flat prohibition.

The default is permissibility, with two important exceptions

For everyday things — foods, objects, contracts and customs — most jurists start from the presumption that they are permitted unless a text prohibits them. Qaradawi lists this as his first principle: “The Basic Asl Refers to the Permissibility of Things,” using the Arabic word asl, or “default rule.”

The presumption explains why lists of haram items are short while lists of permitted items are, in practice, open. It also explains why a new ingredient or financial product is not haram simply because it is new; the burden falls on whoever claims a prohibition. Munajjid describes the same default in his IslamQA answer: where neither harm nor benefit is established, the thing is permitted.

Two exceptions matter for business. In acts of worship, jurists apply the reverse rule: nothing is prescribed unless a text establishes it. And for the meat of land animals, many jurists hold that the default is prohibition until lawful slaughter is established, which is why meat is the most closely audited category in halal certification. The Halal Times guide to what the Quran and hadith say about halal sets out the explicit prohibitions — carrion, blood, pork, intoxicants and meat dedicated to other than God.

The hadith on clear, unclear and doubtful matters

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described a middle zone between the clearly lawful and the clearly prohibited, and advised caution there. That hadith is the scriptural basis for the category scholars and certifiers call mashbooh, or doubtful.

Hadith numbers follow the Sunnah.com numbering, so anyone can look up each hadith there; printed editions sometimes number them differently. An-Nu’man ibn Bashir narrated that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, in the version recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Belief, Hadith 52:

الْحَلاَلُ بَيِّنٌ وَالْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ، وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشَبَّهَاتٌ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَا كَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ، فَمَنِ اتَّقَى الْمُشَبَّهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِيِنِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ، وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى، يُوشِكُ أَنْ يُوَاقِعَهُ‏.‏ أَلاَ وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمًى، أَلاَ إِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ فِي أَرْضِهِ مَحَارِمُهُ، أَلاَ وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ، وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ‏.‏ أَلاَ وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ

“I heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) saying, ‘Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart.”

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Belief (Kitab al-Iman), Hadith 52 (in-book reference: Book 2, Hadith 45).

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj recorded the same hadith from an-Nu’man ibn Bashir in Sahih Muslim, The Book of Musaqah, Hadith 1599a:

إِنَّ الْحَلاَلَ بَيِّنٌ وَإِنَّ الْحَرَامَ بَيِّنٌ وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشْتَبِهَاتٌ لاَ يَعْلَمُهُنَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ فَمَنِ اتَّقَى الشُّبُهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ وَقَعَ فِي الْحَرَامِ كَالرَّاعِي يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى يُوشِكُ أَنْ يَرْتَعَ فِيهِ أَلاَ وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمًى أَلاَ وَإِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ مَحَارِمُهُ أَلاَ وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلاَ وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ

“I heard Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as having said this (and Nu’man) pointed towards his ears with his fingers): What is lawful is evident and what is unlawful is evident, and in between them are the things doubtful which many people do not know. So he who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless, and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his animals round a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware, every king has a preserve, and the things God has declared unlawful are His preserves. Beware, in the body there is a piece of flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound and if it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt, and hearken it is the heart.”

Reference: Sahih Muslim, The Book of Musaqah (Kitab al-Musaqah), Hadith 1599a (in-book reference: Book 22, Hadith 133).

The hadith does two things. It confirms that most rulings are clear and need no new fatwa. And it shows why doubtful ingredients — gelatin of unknown origin, enzymes, alcohol-based flavorings, emulsifiers — are where certifiers, laboratories and fatwa committees spend most of their time.

How scholars reach a ruling: the four sources

Sunni jurists derive rulings from four sources in a fixed order of priority. A scholar moves down the list only when the higher source is silent.

1. The Quran. The primary source. Explicit verses, such as the food prohibitions in Surah Al-Baqarah (2), Verse 173, and Surah Al-Ma’idah (5), Verse 3, settle a question outright.
2. The Sunnah. The sayings, actions and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), preserved in hadith collections and judged by the strength of their chains of narrators. Only authentic or sound hadith can establish a ruling.
3. Ijma, or scholarly consensus. Agreement of qualified jurists on a ruling, such as the prohibition of pork products.
4. Qiyas, or analogy. Extending an established ruling to a new case that shares its effective cause. Scholars apply the prohibition of wine to other intoxicants, for example, because they share intoxication as the cause.

Beyond these four, schools differ on secondary tools such as public interest (maslaha), juristic preference (istihsan) and local custom (urf). Shia jurisprudence uses the Quran, the Sunnah (including the reports of the Imams), consensus and reason. Those methodological differences are why one question can produce more than one recognized answer, as in the long-running debate over whether cryptocurrency is halal, where named scholars and councils have reached opposite conclusions.

Madhhab differences: when two answers are both recognized

The four surviving Sunni schools — Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali — agree on the explicit prohibitions but differ at the edges. A product can be halal under one school’s ruling and disputed under another’s.

Seafood is the textbook case: the Hanafi school, dominant in South Asia, Turkey and Central Asia, restricts sea animals largely to fish, while the other three schools permit most sea creatures. Differences over stunning before slaughter, machine slaughter and the use of synthetic ethanol in food also divide certifiers.

Governments sometimes pick a school by law. Malaysia’s Trade Descriptions (Definition of Halal) Order 2011, which took effect Jan. 1, 2012, defines the Islamic law that governs halal claims as the Shafi’i school, or the rulings of the Hanafi, Maliki or Hanbali schools that the king or a state ruler approves. An exporter that meets one market’s religious rules can still fail another’s.

Who issues fatwas today

A fatwa is a scholarly legal opinion issued by a qualified mufti in answer to a question. Individual muftis still issue them, but on questions with commercial and national consequences, the weight now sits with institutions.

• International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA). Created by the Third Islamic Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Mecca and Taif in January 1981 and based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the academy brings together jurists appointed from member states. It has issued 238 resolutions on contemporary issues, according to its website.
• Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah. Egypt’s state fatwa authority, founded in 1895, according to the institution, issues rulings on questions from individuals and the government.
• The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Fatwa Commission. Its rulings determine the halal status of products under the country’s regular certification route (see below).
• Malaysia’s National Fatwa Council. The muzakarah, or deliberative committee, of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs, which includes each state’s mufti, forms national positions that state fatwa committees may adopt.
• The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR). Founded in 1997, according to the council, it focuses on questions facing Muslim minorities in Europe. Qaradawi was its founding president. Its secretary-general is Hussein Halawa.
• The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA). The council grew out of a religious affairs committee of the Muslim Students Association in the early 1960s and took its current form in 1986 as an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America, according to its website. Yasir Qadhi chairs it.

A fatwa is an opinion; a law is binding

A fatwa does not bind anyone by itself. It becomes enforceable only when a state writes it into law, a court applies it or a certifier adopts it as a contractual standard.

Malaysia shows the mechanism. A fatwa becomes legally binding on Muslims in a state only after it is gazetted by that state, and until then it remains a religious opinion, Malay Mail reported in November 2024, citing Selangor’s Administration of the Religion of Islam Enactment 2003. Muftis cannot enforce a gazetted fatwa themselves; state Islamic religious councils prosecute breaches in Shariah courts. The resolutions of international bodies like the IIFA, the ECFR and the FCNA carry moral and scholarly weight but no legal force unless a government or certifier adopts them.

How fatwas become halal certification standards

In most major markets, a religious body decides what halal means and a state agency or accredited certifier checks whether a company’s products meet it. The split between religious judgment and technical audit is the core of modern halal certification.

Indonesia: MUI fatwa, then a BPJPH certificate

Indonesia’s Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Assurance, signed Oct. 17, 2014, requires products entering, distributed or traded in Indonesia to be halal-certified and created Indonesia’s Halal Product Assurance Organizing Agency (BPJPH) under the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The process works in three steps:

1. A Halal Inspection Agency (LPH) audits the product and production site and sends its findings onward.
2. The MUI, at national, provincial or district level, rules on the product’s halal status in a fatwa session. Under amendments made by the Job Creation Law, Law No. 6 of 2023, that session must take place within three business days of receiving the audit results, according to the legal publisher Hukumonline.
3. BPJPH issues the certificate on the basis of the written fatwa.

The 2023 amendments added a second religious authority. The Halal Product Fatwa Committee, set up by then-Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on March 20, 2023, rules on products from micro and small businesses using the self-declare certification route. The 25-member committee of ulema and academics issued 78,948 halal determinations in its first 40 days or so, BPJPH said in May 2023. The two-track system has been challenged: in a February 2024 hearing before Indonesia’s Constitutional Court, Asrorun Niam Sholeh, an expert witness, argued that having more than one fatwa body creates legal uncertainty. Sholeh said halal is a single ruling and should not be split between institutions.

Malaysia: fatwa councils, JAKIM and MS 1500

In Malaysia, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) and state religious departments certify products against MS 1500:2019, the national halal food standard, while the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living enforces halal claims under the Trade Descriptions Act 2011 and its 2011 orders on the definition, certification and marking of halal. The Certification and Marking Order also requires imported food described as halal to be certified by a foreign body JAKIM recognizes, according to the regulatory database ChemLinked. National Fatwa Council positions feed into what JAKIM accepts on contested points.

The Gulf and the OIC

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states apply GSO 2055-1:2015, “Halal Products — Part 1: General Requirements,” a Gulf Technical Regulation approved Nov. 5, 2015, enforced by national regulators such as the Saudi Food and Drug Authority and the UAE Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology. Across the OIC, the Standards and Metrology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC) publishes OIC/SMIIC 1:2019, “General Requirements for Halal Food,” along with OIC/SMIIC 2:2019 for certification bodies and OIC/SMIIC 3:2019 for accreditation bodies. Member states adopt them voluntarily.

Europe and North America

Neither the European Union nor the United States has a government halal standard. In the EU, religious slaughter without stunning is permitted only through a derogation in Council Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2009, which member states may restrict. Private certifiers set their own requirements, usually guided by a Shariah board and sometimes by ECFR or FCNA positions, and win market access by gaining recognition from JAKIM, BPJPH or Gulf regulators. The Halal Times explainer on how halal certification works covers that process step by step.

Who decides what in each major market

The table below summarizes who holds religious authority, who certifies and which standard applies in the largest halal markets and export destinations.

The risk of AI-generated “fatwas”

A chatbot is not a mufti. It has no qualifications, cannot be held accountable and can mix authentic texts with fabricated ones, which is why fatwa bodies are now setting rules for its use.

Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta made “Developing the Wise Mufti in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” the theme of its 10th international conference on Aug. 12 and 13, 2025. Speakers from the IIFA said AI can speed up research but does not replace human ijtihad, or independent legal reasoning, and should be used only under scholars’ supervision, according to the academy. The Halal Times has documented how people asking AI for fatwas receive wrong answers on divorce, loans and food.

Deepfakes add a second risk, as AI-generated fake scholars have circulated rulings real scholars never made. For businesses, the lesson is practical. A product’s halal status rests on a named certifier, a named standard and, behind them, a named fatwa body. A screenshot of a chatbot answer is none of those.

Frequently asked questions

Can an ordinary Muslim declare something haram?

Scholars say any Muslim may repeat a ruling that is explicit in the Quran or authentic hadith, such as the prohibition of pork. Declaring a new or disputed matter halal or haram requires a qualified scholar, and the Quranic warnings in Surah An-Nahl (16), Verse 116, are directed at those who do so without knowledge.

Can a halal certifier overrule a fatwa?

No. A certifier audits against a standard; it does not issue rulings. Most certifiers employ a Shariah board or follow a named fatwa body, and in Indonesia the law requires a fatwa from the MUI or the Halal Product Fatwa Committee before BPJPH can issue a certificate.

What happens when two fatwa bodies disagree?

Both positions can be recognized if each rests on accepted methods. Consumers typically follow the scholars or school they trust, while exporters must meet the ruling adopted by the importing country’s regulator, regardless of what other bodies say.