In implementation of resolution n° 8/3-C (IS) issued by the Third Islamic Summit Conference "Session of Palestine and Al-Quds", held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) from 19 to 22 Rabi Al-Awwal 1401 H (25-28 January 1981), and providing in its first operative paragraph for "the establishment of an Academy to be known as "the Islamic Fiqh Academy", whose membership would comprise Islamic Jurisprudence, scholars and intellectuals from the various fields of learning, including Fiqh as well as cultural, scientific and economic subjects, and from various parts of the Islamic world, to examine contemporary life problems and to undertake an authentic and effective analysis thereof with the purpose of providing solutions based on the Islamic culture and open to forward looking Islamic thought".
Proceeding from the spirit of the Makkah Declaration, the Organization of the Islamic Conference adopted a set of executive legal measures with a view to establishing the legal and administrative framework for the achievement of the Islamic leaders' expressed wish to set up an Islamic Fiqh Academy that would form a common forum for the interpretational reflection ("Ijtihad") of Islamic jurisprudence, scholars and philosophers so as to provide the Ummah with an authentic Islamic answer to each question that may arise from the developments of contemporary life.
As a result and with the blessing and guidance of Allah the Almighty, the constitutive meeting for the Islamic Fiqh Academy took place in Makkah Al-Mukarramah from 26 to 28 Sha'ban 1403 H (7 - 9 June 1983) under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Sovereign of t_he Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, may Allah grant him protection.
The First session of the Islamic Fiqh Academy which was held in Makkah Al-Mukarramah from 26 to 29 Safar 1405 H (19-22 November 1984) focused exclusively on the study of the Academy's statute and established the executive Plan for the implementation of its projects. It also set up, in addition to the Academy's Council, the Academy's Bureau and its three sections : Planning section, Studies and Research section and Ifta section. Thus the Islamic Fiqh Academy emerged as a tangible reality with its own entity as one of the subsidiary organs issued from the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The Planning Section of the Academy examined over the period extending from 22 to 25 Sha'ban 1405 H (12-15 May 1985) the list of topics suggested by various sources in the Islamic World and made a preliminary classification thereof. The Academy started studying them and issuing Shari'a-based views thereon.
