استفتى

Desiderative to form IV أَفْتَى (ʔaftā).

• IPA^(key): /is.taf.taː/

اِسْتَفْتَى • (istaftā) X (non-past يَسْتَفْتِي (yastaftī), verbal noun اِسْتِفْتَاء (istiftāʔ))

1. (Islamic law) to ask for a legal opinion, to request a ruling
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 4:176:

     يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ قُلِ اللَّهُ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِي الْكَلَالَةِ ۚ إِنِ امْرُؤٌ هَلَكَ لَيْسَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَلَهُ أُخْتٌ فَلَهَا نِصْفُ مَا تَرَكَ ۚ وَهُوَ يَرِثُهَا إِن لَّمْ يَكُن لَّهَا وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كَانَتَا اثْنَتَيْنِ فَلَهُمَا الثُّلُثَانِ مِمَّا تَرَكَ ۚ وَإِن كَانُوا إِخْوَةً رِّجَالًا وَنِسَاءً فَلِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنثَيَيْنِ ۗ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَن تَضِلُّوا ۗ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

     They request from you a ruling. Say, " Allah gives you a ruling concerning one having neither descendants nor ascendants ." If a man dies, leaving no child but a sister, she will have half of what he left. And he inherits from her if she has no child. But if there are two sisters , they will have two-thirds of what he left. If there are both brothers and sisters, the male will have the share of two females. Allah makes clear to you , lest you go astray. And Allah is Knowing of all things.

2. to request information from, to consult

• Freytag, Georg (1830–1837) “استفتى”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), Halle: C. A. Schwetschke
• Baalbaki, Rohi (1995) “استفتى”, in Al-Mawrid: A Modern Arabic-English Dictionary, 7th edition, Beirut: Dar El-Ilm Lilmalayin, →ISBN
• Баранов, Х. К. (2011) “استفتى”, in Большой арабско-русский словарь (Bolʹšoj arabsko-russkij slovarʹ), 11th edition, Москва: Живой язык, →ISBN
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “استفتى”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate
• Wehr, Hans (1960) “استفتى”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 3rd edition, Ithaca, NY: Otto Harrassowitz