Currently there are a few institutions of Islamic Fiqh (majma’ al-Fiqh al- Islami) in several Islamic countries in the world.  To name a few famous ones are Majmac al-Fiqh al-Islami in Jedah, Sudan and India, also Majmac al- Fiqh al-Islami, Rabitah al-Alam al- Islami. Among the functions of these institutions are to produce fatwa and answer questions posed by Muslims or non-Muslims. There are also Islamic academic centers that carry out related studies like The Center of Islamic Studies in Egypt and The Center of Sunnah Studies in Qatar. 

Besides those, there are other institutions that gather the viewpoints of ancient and modern ulama in various fields produced through publications, video compact disks, the internet and web sites, for example,  Ibn Baz, Shanqiti, Fatwa Online, Islam Online dan Darul Ifta’, in South Africa. Individual viewpoints from ulama or institutions like Darul Ifta’ dan Al-Azhar House of Fatwa can also be accessed directly through the Internet.

However, research centers and individual viewpoints obtained from the Internet regarding the fatwa researches are not comprehensive. They only concentrate on providing answers according to certain sects or giving responses to certain fatwa questions or public researches.  None on various global factors or global fatwa information as will be done by INFAD.

INFAD is also the first institution formed at a higher learning institution in Malaysia and in the world. It is not a body that produces fatwa and does not take over the functions of established fatwa bodies in Malaysia or abroad. INFAD is a research and consultation center to produce input based on research, information and experts that can help strengthen the fatwa institution and to aid certain parties in making decisions and explaining certain policies needed or to provide, or to be a source of authoritative information to other research institutions.     

In Islamic countries, the issuance of fatwa is carried out by institutions or individual organizations like Pertubuhan Muhammadiah dan Nahdatul ‘Ulama’ in Indonesia, or formal government institutions as in Malaysia. In this country, the function to issue fatwa is included in the jurisdiction of Islamic Law or law of Syarak, whose power is given by the Federal constitution to all the states in Malaysia including Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. The responsibility to produce fatwa is given to the Mufti who is assisted by the Fatwa committee. Researches will be carried out before a certain fatwa is issued.

At the federal level, the National Fatwa Committee was formed in 1970, under the National Council for the Malaysian Islamic Affairs.  Later it was transferred to the Islamic Affairs Division at the Prime Minister’s Department in 1984 and eventually the Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM), the Prime Minister Department in 1997. The function of the National Fatwa Committee is to discuss and coordinate issues regarding fatwa at national level.

INFAD has a more holistic, multidimensional and global scope, different from other foreign fatwa organizations and state fatwa committees and centers in Malaysia .