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FATWA
Definition of FATWA
noun
A formal legal decree, opinion, or ruling issued by a mufti or other Islamic judicial authority.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
The noun is borrowed from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā, “formal legal opinion”), the verbal noun of أَفْتَى (ʔaftā, “to deliver a formal opinion”) (whence مُفْتٍ (muftin, “mufti”), the active participle of the same verb: see mufti). The forms fetwa, fetwah are derived from Italian fetfà (obsolete), and directly from its etymon Ottoman Turkish فتوی (fetva) (modern Turkish fetva), from Arabic فَتْوَى (fatwā): see above. Modern uses of noun sense 1.2 (“decree that a person should be put to death”) and the corresponding verb sense are probably influenced by the issuance of a fatwa on 14 February 1989 by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900 or 1902 – 1989), the Supreme Leader of Iran, calling for the British-American author Salman Rushdie (born 1947) and his publishers to be put to death for alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses (1988). The plural form fatawa is borrowed from Arabic فَتَاوَى (fatāwā). The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
FATWA in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 28 boards so far. 47 players have found it across Outlier's history.
It first turned up on Day 18, 7 June 2026. The most recent board was Day 109, 6 September 2026. It was on the latest finished board.
First ever to find it
on Day 18, 7 June 2026 - before anyone else in Outlier's history. See the Pioneers
Built from these letters
FATWA starts with F and ends with A. Sorted, its letters read AAFTW - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. A appears more than once.
Words that start FATWA
Its neighbours in the OUTLIER dictionary - shortest first.
Also seen on Day 18
Could you have found FATWA?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 18 - and most players walked straight past it.
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