The 1504 legal opinion was the Oran fatwa, an Islamic ruling that helped Moriscos preserve their faith under forced Christian rule.
The fatwa was associated with Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah, a Maliki scholar also known as al-Wahrani, or “of Oran.” It addressed Muslims in the Crown of Castile who had been compelled to convert to Christianity after Islamic practice was prohibited. The ruling allowed believers to maintain Islam inwardly while outwardly conforming to Christian demands when survival required it.
Its dispensations were unusually practical. The fatwa permitted symbolic or severely abbreviated prayers, flexible purification when water was unavailable, and outward participation in Christian rituals under coercion. It also allowed Muslims to consume pork or wine when forced to do so, provided they rejected those acts inwardly. These provisions helped give religious legitimacy to crypto-Islamic practice among Moriscos.
The date is sometimes presented as 1502 in broad summaries, but the commonly accepted manuscript date corresponds to 1 Rajab 910 AH, or 8 December 1504. The title refers to the author’s association with Oran; scholars have debated whether the document itself was issued there.