Definition of "fatwa" []

• A legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "This fatwa is an absolute condemnation of terrorism."
• "According to Khan, a fatwa is a response given in writing to a specific question, and can only be given by a qualified scholar, or 'mufti.'"
• "In February 1998, the 40-year-old Saudi exile Usama Bin Ladin and a fugitive Egyptian physician, Ayman al Zawahiri, arranged from their Afghan headquarters for an Arabic newspaper in London to publish what they termed a fatwa issued in the name of a "World Islamic Front.""