How poorly-researched, poorly-argued fiqh opinions are so damaging

The issue of crypto assets has been a real eye-opener for me because it gives me insight on how much poorly-researched and poorly-reasoned fatwas((I have nothing but respect and appreciation for well-researched, well-reasoned legal opinions that totally disagree with me.)) contribute towards negatives views of Islamic scholarship.

When a common Muslim individual reads a scholar’s opinion about something he knows well and he sees that the scholar has a fundamentally warped understanding of the topic, the individual realizes that the scholar doesn’t have a credible opinion on the subject.

When that same individual sees other scholars display a similarly warped understanding, he ceases caring what the scholars have to say about that topic.

And when this happens with enough topics, eventually that individual won’t care what legal scholars have to say about anything.

tl;dr – Poorly-research, poorly-argued fiqh opinions erode trust in Islamic scholarship and Islamic scholars. It’s a lose-lose prospect for the entire Muslim community.

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