fatwa
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of fatwa
First recorded in 1985–90, fatwa is from the Arabic word fatwā
Vocabulary lists containing fatwa
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for a decade after the 1989 fatwa, but for the past 20 years -- until the attack -- he lived relatively normally in New York.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
Ditto for Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s encounter with wolves in the garden of his villa in Vermont, or Ruhollah Khomeini’s fatwa on Salman Rushdie.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or the Sunnah - the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
Ahmed described the fatwa as the most powerful legal judgment of a historical moment.
From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2024
AP: I remember you writing about how, after the fatwa, there was a period where fiction was a struggle.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 19, 2024
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
