: a legal opinion or decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader
Examples of fatwa in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Two decades ago, a regional branch of the Ulema Council issued a fatwa against Aak Abdullah al-Kudus, an environmentalist in East Java Province who tried to combine a tree-planting campaign with the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.
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Sui-Lee Wee Ulet Ifansasti, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024
Prior to the 2022 attack, the author was in hiding from 1989 to 1998, after Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, which called for Rushdie's assassination.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
This was much like the fatwa issued by Iran’s ayatollah on Salman Rushdie.
—Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused the author of blasphemy over the book and in 1989 issued a fatwa against Rushdie, calling for his death.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2022
Even though the current Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, effectively renewed the fatwa against him in 2017, the edict seemed to have lost its power.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2022
Advertisement Less than a year after the original fatwa, Rushdie tried to get some of the heat off himself.
—Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2023
Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death, was stabbed in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye.
—Carolyn Thompson, BostonGlobe.com, 29 July 2023
While the Iranian government sought to distance itself from the fatwa in 1998 by pledging not to seek to carry it out, its position on the issue has been ambiguous over the years.
—Lauren Kent, CNN, 16 May 2023
Sui-Lee Wee Ulet Ifansasti, New York Times, 17 Apr. 2024
Prior to the 2022 attack, the author was in hiding from 1989 to 1998, after Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, which called for Rushdie's assassination.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
This was much like the fatwa issued by Iran’s ayatollah on Salman Rushdie.
—Jordan Castro, Harper's Magazine, 9 Jan. 2024
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused the author of blasphemy over the book and in 1989 issued a fatwa against Rushdie, calling for his death.
—Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2022
Even though the current Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, effectively renewed the fatwa against him in 2017, the edict seemed to have lost its power.
—David Remnick, The New Yorker, 28 Aug. 2022
Advertisement Less than a year after the original fatwa, Rushdie tried to get some of the heat off himself.
—Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times, 11 Oct. 2023
Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death, was stabbed in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye.
—Carolyn Thompson, BostonGlobe.com, 29 July 2023
While the Iranian government sought to distance itself from the fatwa in 1998 by pledging not to seek to carry it out, its position on the issue has been ambiguous over the years.
—Lauren Kent, CNN, 16 May 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fatwa.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Fatwa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatwa. Accessed 2 May. 2024.
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