Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy

Mehdi Mozaffari reviews the history of the fatwa from its origins and its evolution into an intrinsic part of Islam. He looks at the general use of fatwa in relation to Islamic rules and traces the evolution of ShiAeite Islam from a pacific and quietist movement into a militant and violent force. The different stages of ShiAea violence before and after the Islamic revolution are studied, and here it can be seen that Rushdie was not the only writer to receive a death sentence from Khomeini. Ex…