Decree proclaimed against Salman Rushdie

Usage examples of fatwa.

The intra-religious disputes (Sunnis and Shi'a, for example) he planned to handle through a sweeping fatwa, or religious pronouncement of tolerancethat would look admirable even to his enemies.

In 1993, the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia, Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, issued an edict, or fatwa, declaring that the world is flat.

These decrees, fatwas, were issued according to interpretations of Muslim Law which the Caliph, Mufti or Qazi 0udge) was empowered to give.