Tuan Guru Dato’ Haji Muhammad Nor Penambang: His role and contribution to the Institution of Fatwa in Kelantan

The post of mufti in Kelantan has been established earlier than the establishment of institution of fatwa in Kelantan (known as Jemaah Ulama’ at that time), which was found around 1820 or 1830s. Once the institution was officially established in 1918, numbers of reformation has been done to enhance its quality. This included the contribution and reformation by one of the local religious scholars, name Tuan Guru Dato’ Haji Muhammad Nor Ibrahim Penambang (TGMNI). He is a scholar who was expert numbers of Islamic disciplines, such as Islamic astronomy (falak), faraid, tafsir, hadith and qira’at. Due to this advantages that he had, he was appointed as Mufti of Kelantan from 1968 to 1987. Throughout his career as a mufti, he had played numbers of important roles and contributed numbers of contribution in improving the quality of the institution. Hence, this research studies on these aspects, as well as the historical background and development of institution of fatwa in Kelantan and the biography of him in educational background, his life and contribution to the society. This research employed the qualitative method and collecting the data via library research and interviews. This study is significant in exploring the historical background of institution of fatwa in Kelantan and analyzing the roles and contribution of TGMNI in this field. Overall, TGMNI had reformed and improved the quality of this institution. Furthermore, he had released numbers of comprehensive fatwa which met the needs of the community in Kelantan at that time. Hence, this research expected to enrich studies regarding local religious scholars in Malaysia and to introduce TGMNI to public as one of prominent religious scholars in 1960s.