Thread by @aa51_ansari

A thread on ‘fatwas’:

A fatwa is a legal ruling delivered by a religious jurist, these days denoted by the rank of Ayatollah or higher. Fatwas are an integral aspect of Shia jurisprudence which operates on the basis of the continuous interpretation of scripture /1

The procedure normally follows an answer to a specific question. How the supplicant frames the question can dictate the nature of the answer. Different clerics can be approached for different topics which range from the mundane to the serious…/2

…and the rulings of the more senior clerics will take precedence. This is an important consideration today when we have a relative abundance of ayatollahs and a (generally) acknowledged hierarchy. Generally acknowledged because…/3

…while there is a political hierarchy in the Islamic Republic of Iran topped by the Supreme Leader (SL), not all Shias, even within Iran, recognise his religious supremacy. In addition, the rulings of living jurists take precedence over dead ones. /4

The reference point and template for all subsequent fatwas was the fatwa issued by the senior cleric, Mirza Hasan Shirazi in 1891 prohibiting the smoking of tobacco as a protest against the tobacco concession recently granted to a British ‘entrepreneur’. /5

The fatwa was rescinded once the concession was revoked, but a procedure had been established: question, consideration, written ruling, with the possibility that it could be rescinded. /6

The fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie by the SL of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, was the subject of some contention at the time. It was delivered verbally rather than written and people questioned whether Khomeini had considered all the relevant material /7

Consequently some people referred to the ruling as a ‘hokm’, a political edict rather than religious ruling and the President at the time Ali Khamenei (who was to succeed as SL), was rebuked when he reflected that Rushdie might simply apologise /8

Be that as it may, the ruling was understood as a fatwa, while an Iranian ‘charity’ offered a bounty in order to encourage the ‘faithful’. The fatwa dominated Iran’s relations with the West for the next decade much to the chagrin of Iranian diplomats who…/9

..simply could not understand why people in the West took the matter so seriously and surprisingly, had principles too. Indeed outside the religiously and political devout, few Iranians cared and the view circulated that Khomeini, seeing protests in other parts of the world…/10

..had decided that it was important to take a leadership position. He had been encouraged by Muslims around the world including a number from Britain.

At a stroke Iran took ownership of an issue few of its people had any interest in. /11

Dying soon afterwards, Khomeini left his heirs with a quandary. The new SL Khamenei could issue a new fatwa which would supersede that of Khomeini’s but to do so would challenge Khomeini’s pre-eminence, as the founding father of the revolution. /12

In 1998 following the election of the Reformist President Khatami the decision was taken to find a political solution by defining the fatwa as a religious injunction out-with the responsibility of the government, publicly stating they would not pursue its implementation /13

In effect (and perhaps inadvertently) the government had acknowledged the de facto separation of religion and politics. De Jure nothing had changed and the fatwa remained in place but it was a significant if under appreciated development. /14

In Iran debates raged about political and religious reform including a particularly contentious debate about the nature and relevance of apostasy. For many there were reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the prospects for real change. Sadly these were not to be /15

With the demise of the Reform movement by 2005, a fierce reaction set in and the prospect for change receded. In 2009 during the Green Movement hardline clerics labelled opponents ‘heretics’ and ‘apostates’, beyond the pale and subject to the most severe repression /16

The idea that the Rushdie fatwa might die a natural death proved misplaced. Khamenei has chosen to double down and has repeatedly endorsed the fatwa. He has chosen instead to play to his hardline base. /17

By now collective attention had shifted to the nuclear impasse with a new twist in the fatwa saga.

Part of the settlement relied on the fact that Khamenei had issued a (verbal) fatwa outlawing nuclear weapons. This fatwa was apparently immutable and irrevocable…/18

..a position that remains a theological and procedural nonsense. It also reinforced the view - contrary to 1998 - that religion and politics were indivisible in Iran and that Khamenei’s word was effectively law. This will have been dispiriting news to those in Iran…/19

…interested in political change, to say nothing of those seeking the revocation of the Rushdie fatwa.

Today, (with dissent suppressed), Iran’s newspapers are celebrating the attack on Rushdie.

It remains a salient example of acute shortsightedness in policy making. END