In this discussion, I’ve learned that Muslims do not have a central authority (like the Catholics have the Pope) who decides on matters of faith and morals. Yet, the various muslim ayatollahs, imams, etc., have at avrious times, issued pronouncements called “fatwahs”. As I understnad it, these are instructions to faithful muslims on how to act. This leads to my questions:
-Suppose you are a Sunni Muslim, living in SA. Your local (Wahabist) Imam issues a fatwah that tells you that you must donate $5.00 to a charity. Do you have to do it?
-The must discussed fatwah (telling Muslims to kill Salam Rushdie). This was issued by the late Ayatollah Khomanei of Iran. Suppose that you are an Alawit muslim in Syria, and you happen to be riding next to Mr. Rushdie on the bus…should you stick a knife in him?
-As a devout muslim, you may disregard any fatwah that commands you to commit a sin …does this mean that MURDER (in the case of mr. Rushdie) is no longer a sin?
-Fianlly, a fatwah is ussued by a human being…what happens when that guy dies? Is the fatwah “null and void”? 
As I understand it, a Muslim is not obliged to follow any fatwah he doesn’t want to. It is all a matter of personal conviction.
Nothing renders a fatwah null and void because nothing makes it official in the first place. If a fatwah is issued by some no name mullah and it makes zero sense to anyone, then simply no one will follow it. Other than the mullah who issued it, I suppose.