fatwa means A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, fatwa ranks #29 of 12,835 for Scariest Words, #1,664 of 12,956 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,934 of 12,835 for Most Ponderous Words, #2,410 of 12,956 for Most Storied Words.
fatwa is pronounced /ˈfætwɑː/.
Why “fatwa” is a great word
A formal legal opinion on a point of Islamic law issued by a recognized religious scholar. From Arabic *fatwā* ("formal legal opinion"), the verbal noun of *ʔaftā* ("to deliver a formal opinion"), first attested in English in the early 1600s. Unlike an edict—a command from secular power—or a ruling—a binding court judgment—a fatwa is a non-binding pronouncement of scholarly interpretation. It is the quiet rustle of parchment in a study, the precise phrasing debated in a shaded courtyard, the weight of centuries of precedent distilled into an answer for a community's urgent question—a solemn architecture of faith meeting the disorder of the world.
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”) (whence مُفْتٍ (muftin, “mufti”), the active participle of the same verb: see mufti).
The forms fetwa, fetwah are derived from Italian fetfà (obsolete), and directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish فتوی (fetva) (modern Turkish fetva), from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā): see above.
Modern uses of noun sense 1.2 (“decree that a person should be put to death”) and the corresponding verb sense are probably influenced by the issuance of a fatwa on 14 February 1989 by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900 or 1902 – 1989), the Supreme Leader of Iran, calling for the British-American author Salman Rushdie (born 1947) and his publishers to be put to death for alleged
noun
- A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority.“The website contains fatwas on points of Islamic law that arise in court cases.”
- A decree issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority that a person should be put to death, usually as punishment for committing apostasy or blasphemy.
- A formal decree or ruling, or statement, issued by an authority of a religion other than Islam.
- An emphatic decree or opinion, especially one which condemns or criticizes.
verb
- To issue a fatwa (noun sense 1) against (someone); specifically (loosely, erroneous), a fatwa imposing a ban or a death sentence.“Unlike many writers and artists, Chahine had not been fatwaed by the militants, but he felt threatened nevertheless.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- mufti 91% match — A Muslim scholar and interpreter of sharia law, who can deliver a fatwa. vs fatwa →
- mujtahid 86% match — A lawyer entitled to exercise ijtihad. vs fatwa →
- madhhab 85% match — A school of thought in Islamic jurisprudence. vs fatwa →
- responsa 85% match — A body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. vs fatwa →
- taqlid 84% match — Conformity to traditional legal decisions in Shari'a jurisprudence. vs fatwa →
- takfir 83% match — Excommunication. vs fatwa →
- qiyas 82% match — The use of analogy as precedent in Shari'a jurisprudence. vs fatwa →
- hadith 82% match — An eyewitness account of a saying or action of Muhammad or sometimes one of his companions not otherwise found in the Quran. vs fatwa →