• PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S [he/him]@lemmy.sdf.org
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    1 year ago

    From Wikipedia:

    A fatwa is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist (faqih) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government.

    So unless you live in a country that runs on Sharia law and have your real information connected to your account, you can safely ignore it.

    You could report the poster for being mean if it goes against that community’s or instance’s rules. Up to you. But I think someone’s just being a troll.

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      That bit of history is generally where the misuse of the term entered the western world.

      The issued fatwa was an interpretation of law that concluded his assassination was legal and even expected punishment under the law. But the phrase then came to be used in the west when Islamic religious law prompted anyone to take an illegal/extremist action in the west.

      It would be like a southern baptist pastor calling for a lynching or the electric chair on moral grounds.

        • The Octonaut@mander.xyz
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          1 year ago

          The issue is taking a broad concept and making it mean a very specific one instead.

          (Please note I am an atheist that lived for years in a “Muslim country”. I don’t actually agree with any of the below, but understanding what words are intended to mean is important when you are surrounded by their use in 2 different contexts).

          Fatwa: a Sharia law ruling by an imam

          Fatwa (western): a ruling by an imam that a person is not protected by the law and therefore a target for assassination

          Hijab: men and women of Islam should maintain a sense of visual propriety in order to avoid devaluing what can be seen in private.

          Hijab (western): that cloth Islamic women wear on their head.

          Jihad: the righteous struggles that each human faces to choose a difficult path for good reasons.

          Jihad (western): a holy war of aggression against infidels