Fatwās for an Unprecedented Minority: Sheikh Rāid Badīr and the fiqh of Medical Transplantation for Muslims Living in Israel

This article deals with legal opinions (fatwās) for Muslims living in Israel as a minority under non-Muslim rule. A well-developed legal doctrine known as fiqh al-aqalliyyāt al-muslima (jurisprudence concerning Muslim minorities) applies to Muslim minorities living in the West. The innovators of fiqh al-aqalliyyāt, Yūsuf al-Qaraāwī and aha Jābir al-Alwānī, did not issue legal opinions for the Muslim minority living in Israel, which, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is classified as The Abode of War (dār al-arb). In this article, I examine developments in Islamic jurisprudence for the Muslim minority living in Israel, with a focus on the legal opinions of Sheikh Rāid Badīr, the senior religious authority of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and the pioneer in issuing fatwās for the Muslim minority in Israel.