THIS is apropos of the letter ‘Use of Ijtehad’ (Feb 7) by S.G. Jilanee. He is right in pointing out that doors of Ijtehad are open and ulema should get together to issue ‘fatwas’ on new issues.

I know of some 172 ulema of Islamabad who issued a fatwa recently, saying that the use of emails, Twitter, Facebook, etc., is haram.

Another Ijtehad was made by the ulema for tracing a husband whose whereabouts were not known to his wife. It was decided that the wife must wait for four years before the husband is traced out. Previously, the limit was 90 years.

Still there are reputed ulema who say that listening to the radio and viewing TV is ‘haram’ since these inventions were made by ‘kafirs’ and these make you think? My question to the above ulema is: why do they use cars and aircraft? These are also inventions by non-Islamic people.

It is time for the ulema to adopt a unanimous code of ethics for the present times like it was last done during the rule of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir. The book Fatwa-i-Alamgiri is also available in Urdu.

INAYAT OLLAH SHEIKH Karachi