fatwa

See also: Fatwa and fatwą

English

Alternative forms

• fatwah, fetwa
• fetwah, futwa, futwah (archaic)

Etymology

From Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”). مُفْتٍ‎ (muftin, “mufti”) is the active participle of the same verb.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfæ.twɑː/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfæt.wɑ/, /ˈfɑt.wɑ/

Noun

fatwa (plural fatwas or fatawa)

1. (Islam) A legal opinion, decree or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic lawyer.

   I think the fatwas on that website are totally unreliable.

Translations

legal opinion, decree or ruling issued by a mufti

• Albanian: fetva f
• Arabic: فَتْوَى‎ f (fatwā)
• Azerbaijani: fitva
• Bashkir: фәтүә (fätwä)
• Bengali: ফতোয়া (bn) (photōẇa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 法特瓦 (fǎtéwǎ)

• Czech: fatva (cs) f
• Danish: fatwa c
• Dutch: fatwa (nl) m
• Estonian: fatvaa
• Finnish: fatwa (fi)
• French: fatwa (fr) f
• German: Fatwa (de) f or n
• Greek: φετφάς (el) m (fetfás), φετβάς (el) m (fetvás), φάτουα (el) f (fátoua)
• Hebrew: פַתְוָה / פתווה‎ f (fatvá)
• Hindi: फ़तवा m (fatvā), फतवा (hi) m (phatvā)
• Hungarian: fetva
• Indonesian: fatwa (id)
• Italian: fatwa (it) f
• Japanese: ファトワー (fatowā)
• Kazakh: пәтуа (pätua)
• Korean: 파트와 (pateuwa)
• Kumyk: патва (patwa)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: فەتوا‎ (fetwa)

• Kyrgyz: фатва (fatva)
• Macedonian: фа́тва f (fátva)
• Malay: fatwa, petua (ms)
• Marathi: फतवा m (phatvā)
• Pashto: فتوى‎ f (fetwã)
• Persian: فتوا‎ (fa) (fatvâ)
• Polish: fatwa (pl) f
• Portuguese: fátua f
• Russian: фе́тва (ru) f (fétva), фетва́ (ru) f (fetvá), фа́тва f (fátva), фатва́ f (fatvá)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фе̏тва f, фа̏тва f

  Roman: fȅtva (sh) f, fȁtva (sh) f

• Spanish: fetua f, fatua (es) f, fatwa f
• Swedish: fatwa (sv) c
• Tajik: фатво (fatvo)
• Tatar: фәтва (tt) (fätwa)
• Turkish: fetva (tr)
• Urdu: فتوی‎ (fatvā)
• Uyghur: پەتىۋا‎ (petiwa)
• Uzbek: fatvo (uz)

Verb

fatwa (third-person singular simple present fatwas, present participle fatwaing, simple past and past participle fatwaed)

1. (rare, transitive) To make somebody the subject of a fatwa, especially a ban or death sentence.
   • 2000, Mary Anne Weaver, A Portrait of Egypt, page 141:

     Unlike many writers and artists, Chahine had not been fatwaed by the militants, but he felt threatened nevertheless.

   • 2002, South Asia Politics - Volume 1; Volume 4, page 30:

     One wonders why these terrorists are not fatwaed.

   • 2013 April 15, Katie Van Syckle, “Q&A: Salman Rushdie Talks 'Midnight's Children,' Other Projects”, in Rolling Stone:

     'I'm just beginning one,' says famously-fatwaed author of new novel.

   • 2015, Mohamed Gibril Sesay, This Side of Nothingness, page 186:

     He was fatwaed for linking facts and fiction in ways that the mullahs say they should not be linked.

Further reading

• “fatwa”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “fatwa, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “fatwa”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “fatwa”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “fatwa” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2023.

Anagrams

• tawaf

Danish

Etymology

From Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfæd̥ʋa]

Noun

fatwa c

1. (Islam) fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

Declension

Declension of fatwa

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	fatwa	fatwaen	fatwaer	fatwaerne
genitive	fatwas	fatwaens	fatwaers	fatwaernes

Related terms

• mufti

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.twa/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a

Noun

fatwa f (plural fatwas)

1. (Islam) fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

Related terms

• mufti

Indonesian

Alternative forms

• petuah

Etymology

From Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”). Doublet of petuah.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfat.wa/

Noun

fatwa (first-person possessive fatwaku, second-person possessive fatwamu, third-person possessive fatwanya)

1. fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

   Synonym: petuah

2. (figurative) advice from elder or pious people

Related terms

• berfatwa
• memfatwakan
• mufti

Further reading

• “fatwa” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfa.twa/
• Rhymes: -atwa

Noun

fatwa f (invariable)

1. (Islam) fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

Related terms

• muftì

Malay

Etymology

From Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى‎ (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”). Doublet of petua.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfat.wa/

Noun

fatwa (Jawi spelling فتوى‎, plural fatwa-fatwa, informal 1st possessive fatwaku, 2nd possessive fatwamu, 3rd possessive fatwanya)

1. (Islam) fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

Related terms

• memfatwakan
• mufti

Further reading

• “fatwa” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى‎ (fatwā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfat.fa/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atfa
• Syllabification: fat‧wa

Noun

fatwa f

1. (Islam) fatwa (legal opinion issued by a mufti)

Declension

Declension of fatwa

	singular	plural
nominative	fatwa	fatwy
genitive	fatwy	fatw
dative	fatwie	fatwom
accusative	fatwę	fatwy
instrumental	fatwą	fatwami
locative	fatwie	fatwach
vocative	fatwo	fatwy

Related terms

noun

• mufti

 

Further reading

• fatwa in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• fatwa in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.tu.ɐ/ [ˈfa.tʊ.ɐ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈfa.twɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.tu.ɐ/ [ˈfa.tʊ.ɐ], (faster pronunciation) /ˈfa.twɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.tu.a/ [ˈfa.tʊ.a], (faster pronunciation) /ˈfa.twa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.twɐ/

Noun

fatwa f (plural fatwas)

1. Alternative form of fátua

Spanish

Noun

fatwa f (plural fatwas)

1. Alternative spelling of fatua