: a legal opinion or decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader
Examples of fatwa in a Sentence
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At trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York alleged Matar was acting on the fatwa.
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Scott Neuman, NPR, 16 May 2025
The federal case against Matar ties the attack back to the infamous fatwa that Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued against Rushdie in 1989 over his depiction of the prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2025
Nuclear Debates The development of nuclear weapons is officially banned in Iran, dating back to a fatwa, an Islamic legal ruling, issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
—Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 May 2025
But one major obstacle stands in the way of a nuclear-armed Iran: in 2003, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that prohibits the possession and accumulation of nuclear weapons.
—Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Foreign Affairs, 12 July 2019
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Scott Neuman, NPR, 16 May 2025
The federal case against Matar ties the attack back to the infamous fatwa that Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued against Rushdie in 1989 over his depiction of the prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2025
Nuclear Debates The development of nuclear weapons is officially banned in Iran, dating back to a fatwa, an Islamic legal ruling, issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
—Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 May 2025
But one major obstacle stands in the way of a nuclear-armed Iran: in 2003, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, publicly issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that prohibits the possession and accumulation of nuclear weapons.
—Seyed Hossein Mousavian, Foreign Affairs, 12 July 2019
See All Example Sentences for fatwa
Cite this Entry
“Fatwa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatwa. Accessed 28 May. 2025.
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