What a "fatwah" is.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was just flipping through The Right Word by Jan Venolia. Among other things, the book lists words and how to use them properly. It had one entry that shocked me:

“fatwa: An Islamic declaration of a death sentence.” (bolding in original)

I am afraid Ms. Venolia was wrong. A fatwa is an Islamic legal opinion.

Let us clarify it a bit. There are two primary figures in Sunni Muslim jurisprudence: the qazi (also written as qadi) and the mufti. The *qazi *is a judge; he applies *shariah *(Islamic law). The *mufti *is one who interprets *shariah *and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence, the source for shariah). So, sometimes a *qazi *will present a situation to a mufti, the *mufti *will issue an opinion (this opinion is called a *fatwah *- the word is etymologically related to “mufti”), and the *qazi *will apply *shariah *based on/justified by the fatwah. At other times, ordinary Muslims will come to a *mufti *with situations and seek his ruling: he may issue a fatwah on it to guide the Muslim or for the convenience of a civil or religious authority.

So, to put it shortly, a *fatwah *is a statement of an interpretation of *shariah *and fiqh.

In Shi’ism, the situation is a bit different. Any *marja *(religious scholar/leader) is a *faqih *(expert *in fiqh *or Islamic jurisprudence). Any *faqih *may issue a fatwah. The *fatwah *is, like those of Sunni muftis, a statement of an interpretation of fiqh. However, there are no qazis in Shi’ism, so the *fatwah *also may serve as a ruling or application of fiqh.

When Ayatollah al-Uzma Ruhullah Khomeini made his famous *fatwah *against Salman Rushdie, he issued a statement of his interpretation of *fiqh *concerning the issue at hand. According to Shi’ite fiqh, a marja’s *fatawa *(plural of fatwah) are binding only on the marja’s followers.

An example of how a fatwah can do nothing with death: if there’s any question about a Muslim’s *nikahnamah *(marriage decree) or *talaqnamah *(divorce decree), it could be taken to a *mufti *who can then issue a *fatwah *on its validity (usually explaining why he believes it’s valid or invalid). Therefore, it has no applicability not only for Sunnis but also for Shi’ites who don’t follow Khomeini. (However, almost every Shi’ite *marja *has endorsed the *fatwah *against Salman Rushdie.)

There is a saying amongst more cynical Muslims: muftis have issued fatawa for and against everything in the universe.

WRS

2

It’s unfortunate that the most famous fatwah in the world happened to be a death sentence, since the word has now been borrowed into English with a meaning different from the meaning it has in Arabic, to the great prejudice of the discussion of other fatawa that have nothing to do with death sentences.

A few similar cases that comes to mind at present include the Afrikaans word apartheid, which means any separation (“aparthood”) but refers in English exclusively to racial separation, which the word was used for in pre-1990s South Africa; and the German word Führer, which simply means “leader” or “guide” (from the verb führen, to lead) and could just as well be a tourist guide.

The difference, of course, is that in English we never have occasion to use the Afrikaans or German words for these concepts; we would just say “separation” or “leader.” Whereas, since fatawa are specific to Muslim jurisprudence, we might well need to use the word “fatwah” in English to refer to them, and find to our sorrow that it’s been vitiated by popular use.

That’s why we translators try to be extremely careful when we need to create neologisms in the target language.

3

How most right you are! Thank you for that elucidating post. :slight_smile:

WRS

4

I for one am most enlightened.

Thanks, WRS.