[5] The fatwa enjoyed wide currency among Spanish Muslims and Moriscos—Muslims nominally converted to Christianity and their descendants; one of its surviving aljamiado translations was dated at 1564, six decades after it was first issued.

[6] The fatwa has been described as the "key theological document" to understand the practice of Spanish Muslims following the Reconquista up to the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early 17th century.

For example, the Treaty of Granada, which governed the surrender of the emirate, guaranteed a set of rights to the conquered Muslims, including religious tolerance and fair treatment, in return for their capitulation.

[17][18] The apparent success of Granada's forced conversions triggered a series of edicts and proclamations in 1501 and 1502, which effectively put the Muslims elsewhere in Castile to the same fate.

[20] Prior to the Oran fatwa, the predominant position of Islamic scholars had been that a Muslim could not stay in a country where rulers made proper religious observance impossible.

[6] Even before the systematic forcible conversion, religious leaders had argued that Muslims in Christian territory would be subject to direct and indirect pressure, and preached emigration as a way to protect the religion from erosion.

[2] Al-Wahrani drafted the fatwa in response to a request of legal opinion, in other words, as a responsum, to Muslim petitioners who wished to learn if they could continue to live in Christian Spain.

[30] It described the obligation of the ritual prayers – normally performed by standing, bowing, prostrating, and sitting in a prescribed sequence – even if done only by making slight movements.

[1] The fatwa appeared to enjoy wide currency within the Muslim and Morisco community in various kingdoms of Spain, for it was translated and copied as late as 1563 and 1609.

[4][6] The full geographical reach of the text is unknown, but it appeared to be originally addressed to the Muslims (or Moriscos) of Castile as a response to their forced conversions in 1500–1502.

[34] For example, the works of the Morisco writer known as "the Young Man of Arévalo", written c. 1530s described crypto-Muslims using Christian worship as replacement for regular Islamic rituals, as recommended in the fatwa.

Harvey called it "the key theological document" for the study of Spanish Islam following the forced conversions, a description which Stewart repeated.

[1][4] Mercedes García-Arenal and Fernando Rodríguez Mediano, historians of Spain and Western Muslims, described the fatwa as "famous" and called it "one of the most important theological texts of later Spanish Islam".

[27] Spanish literature scholar María del Mar Rosa-Rodríguez considered the fatwa important because it officially documented "the existence of religiosities that do not depend on traditional ritual practice".

[36] Harvey and Stewart said that the fatwa was a departure from the previous legal opinions among Islamic scholars, which typically emphasised the obligation to emigrate from any country where proper religious observance was not possible.

[6] The fatwa began by affirming in orthodox terms the obligations of all Muslims,[30] and ended by expressing hopes that Islam may again be practised openly without ordeals, tribulations and fear.

[7] Rosa-Rodriguez noted that the fatwa stated a hope that the "Noble Turks" would soon intervene and end the religious persecution in Spain, a reference to the Ottoman Empire's growing power in the Mediterranean at the time.

[40] This hope did not materialise, and the religious persecution in Spain continued, causing the fatwa's recommendations to become the normal way of practicing Islam for generations.

[1] The fatwa also went into specific practical challenges faced by Muslims in Spain, such as the pressure to curse Muhammad, eat pork, drink wine, and intermarry with the Christians.