[ExI] whose fatwa? what ruler?

[Stefano Vaj]

On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 3:29 PM, Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> Ben now cites another fatwa from a newspaper article that seems to confuse
> the relative power and station of these two men, which is bad enough--but
> also (it seems to me, no scholar of Islam) to misunderstand the nature of
> fatwas. These are *opinions*, not ex cathedra pronouncements from some seat
> of absolute authority.

In fact, they are "legal opinions", deriving - exactly as it used to
happen the common law tradition -  *some* normative power only from
the cogency of their arguments and the relative authority of their
origin.

So, one may consider them as the political-theological equivalent of
the comfort letter one obtains from a prestigious law firm before
embarking in the infringement of somebody's patent. :-)

-- 
Stefano Vaj