fatwa

Meaning

Noun

1. A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority.
2. (broadly, proscribed) 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.
3. (broadly) A formal decree or ruling, or statement, issued by an authority of a religion other than Islam.
4. (figuratively, informal) 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.

Synonyms

fatwah

Translations

fatwa

fatwa

فتوى

fetva

fatwa

fatwa

Fatwa

Fetwa

فهتوا

فَتْوَى

φετφάς

فتوا

fátua

fatua

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈfætwɑː/

Etymology

Cognate with Turkish: fetva

In summary

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 blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses (1988).
The plural form fatawa is borrowed from Arabic فَتَاوَى (fatāwā).
The verb is derived from the noun.