فتوى
Fatwā
A legal opinion given by a qualified scholar (muftī) in answer to a question; it is not binding.
What it means
A fatwa states what a scholar judges the sources to require in a case. A questioner may take it to another scholar, and a ruling by one scholar can be opposed by another. In many countries an official mufti issues them, and in all of them the ruling is only as strong as its reasoning.
What the sources say
Many Muslim scholars and authorities rejected it, saying that a sentence cannot be passed without a trial and a hearing, and that Islamic law does not allow Muslims to kill abroad on a decree from a ruler.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 42, listed as FATWĀ. The definition is restated here.