Fatwa by telephone is an existing service that needs no visit and no appointment: you call, and a member of the ministry’s fatwa committee answers, or the Mufti himself from his office at the Grand Mosque. But the service has one clear boundary.
The boundary: divorce is not answered by phone
The official description says the department receives every kind of enquiry from people wanting an urgent verbal answer, except divorce cases. Those are referred to the fatwa committee, and both husband and wife must attend the fatwa department in person. Which means the matter people call about most is precisely the one that cannot be settled on the phone.
What is asked of you before the question
- A clearly framed question.
- The name of the person asking.
- An address.
- The enquirer’s phone number.
- The civil ID.
These are not formalities: the fatwa is written on numbered forms and handed to the person who asked. The details are for the record, not for the call.
How the call goes
- You call the fatwa department, or the Mufti’s office at the Grand Mosque, on the published fatwa numbers.
- A member of the fatwa committee takes the call, or the Mufti himself.
- The answer is given directly on the phone, or the matter is referred to the fatwa committee.
- The fatwa is printed on a dedicated form: one for personal status matters, another for general questions.
- The fatwa is handed to the person who asked.
The fee
Zero. No fixed fee and no variable one.
Photo: the prayer hall of the Sulaimaniya Mosque — by Mustafa-trit20, licence CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Kuwait’s electronic portal, telephone fatwa service page, Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs.
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