Bin Bayyah fatwa a fake

Much discussion ensued on [Deenport](http://www.deenport.com/) when someone posted a synopsis of a supposed *fatwa* from Abdullah bin Bayyah to the effect that the fake *jumu’ah* prayers held with Amina Wadud as the “imam” were valid. The *fatwa* was supposedly issued “for reasons of compassion for those who have only recently entered Islam”. It has now been confirmed through Shaikh Hamza Yusuf that the fatwa was never given at all, and that there are those who put such material out in order to ruin their reputations, but it could have been issued by someone who simply had not understood what the shaikh had actually said. The supposed fatwa came to us by way of an Arabic news website, which is not the most reliable way of obtaining guidance from the scholars.

The clarification can be found in [this Deenport thread](http://www.deenport.com/iframes/viewtopic.php?topicurl=viewtopic.php?t=7598&sid=84a4ad8e81b289186ec83df3c7b156d0). The gist of it is as follows:

>Sheikh Hamza confirmed this evening that this is absolutely FALSE, and Sheikh Abdullah said nothing of the sort. The article had (deliberately) twisted his words out of context, presumably to suggest some kind of imaginary conflict amongst the scholars.
>
>Sheikh Abdullah confirmed that what he actually said is that Miss Wadud should not be debated for what she has done but rather should be excused for reasons of tolerance. He confirmed that the prayer was NOT valid, and that women do not lead men in the prayer. This is not because they are inferior, he pointed out, but because the roles of men and women are different.