The UAE General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (Awqaf) has reported that its website has attracted more than 7,855,727 visitors in 2016, an estimated increase of more than 45% compared to 2015, when the website recorded around 5.4 million visits. The achievement comes on the heels of the
initiative of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and PM of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, to support m-government
and innovation.
According to statistics issued by Awqaf's IT department, fatwa (فتوى) topped the list of preferred services, registering and increase of 55% in the number of visits, followed by Friday sermons and prayer timings. The statistics also revealed that visitors to the website came from 217 countries around the world.
Dr Mohammed Matar al Kaabi, Awqaf's Chairman said, "This significant rise in the number of visitors to the website is due to many reasons, including credibility and public trust in the moderate religious discourse adhered to by the UAE, which is the state of tolerance, moderation and respect of peoples' cultures and civilisations, this being the essence of authenticity and modernity."
"Another factor lies in the regular update of the website's content in both Arabic and English and addition of new electronic services that ensured users quick and effective access, and allows positive interaction with the users through multiple channels of communication."
In early January, Awqaf disclosed that its Official Fatwa Centre has answered more than 2.8 million queries since its inception. Some 2.4 million were answered over the phone, 282,000 via an SMS service, and over 64,000 queries were answered on Awqaf's website. All responses are archived and can be accessed online.
Dr al Kaabi noted that the centre was set up to enhance the practice of religious fatwa reference in the UAE, and is manned by trusted muftis (مفتي, an Islamic scholar qualified to provide authoritative opinions in the Islamic context, or fatwas) and scholars who are known for their moderate and tolerant approach as well as high academic qualifications. He added that the centre is now a reliable point of reference for religious queries from the public. "This is because religious fatwas are meant to offer a jurisprudential point of view, clarifying all its relevant terminologies, principles and objective. Such a task can only be done by scholar who are versed in Islamic fiqh (فقه, or Islamic jurisprudence)," Dr al Kaabi said.
The Official Fatwa Centre's muftis answer the public's queries in Arabic, English and Urdu. A group fatwa mechanism is followed to combat one-sided opinions. To achieve this, the centre offers a fatwa consultation service in addition to the possibility of referring a query to another mufti. A mufti can also avoid answering a query about which they do not have sufficient knowledge and mark it for the centre's supervisor to call the fatwa seeker and answer his/her query.