KUALA LUMPUR, March 31— Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki clarified today that there was no such thing as a National Fatwa Council, and that the body was called the Muzakarah of the Fatwa Committee, of the National Council for Islamic Affairs.

The deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said in a Facebook post that he was informed by Perak Sultan, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, to explain the right term of the council to the public.

He also explained that the council’s edicts were religious opinions that did not have legal implications until these are gazetted, before going on to explain the process.

“State fatwa committees that are headed by the state Muftis will discuss and decide an issue that is raised in the context of the religion.

“The issue is then decided and brought to the Sultan of the respective states, and after the Sultan has approved the matter, it is gazetted as a state fatwa, which will have powers and legal effects,” he said in his post.

Asyraf Wajdi summed up his post by saying that fatwas were under the powers of states and that the edicts possess power in court.

“As for the Muzakarah of the Fatwa Committee, of the National Council for Islamic Affairs, that is constantly wrongly reported as the National Fatwa Council, it is just a matter of perspective and has no legal implications,” he said.