A fatwa is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Faqih (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual or judge. The word fatwa comes from the Arabic root f-t-w, which means youth, newness, clarification, explanation. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a mufti, and the person who asks for a fatwa is known as mustafti. The act of issuing fatwas is called iftāʾ, and the term futyā refers to soliciting and issuing fatwas.

Fatwas are usually issued in response to questions from individuals or Islamic courts. When seeking a fatwa, a Muslim can turn to a local cleric or a group of Islamic law scholars (ulama) who collaborate to render decisions, or to a trusted institution of religious learning. Given the subjects that fatwas must address, an encyclopedic knowledge of Islamic law is required, including familiarity with fatwas that have already been issued.

Fatwas can cover a wide range of topics, including personal hygiene, marital relations, inheritance law, lifestyle, or allegiance owed to one’s nation. They are not obligatory for all Muslims, and a requester who finds a fatwa unconvincing is permitted to seek another opinion. Fatwas are considered authoritative, but they are generally not treated as binding judgments.

It is important to note that a fatwa rarely calls for death, and can be issued by a variety of religious authorities. The fatwa against Salman Rushdie is one of the most well-known in the world, but it has also created ignorance around the term’s true meaning, and a false equivalence of the word “fatwa” with “death sentence”.