Iranian Cleric Issues Fatwa Calling for Holy War Against the U.S. and Israel

What Happened?

Grand Ayatollah Nasser Shirazi, a senior Iranian Shia religious cleric, has issued a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for all Muslims to wage holy war against the United States and Israel in revenge for the killing of former Supreme Leader Khamenei.

The fatwa declared that all Muslims were obligated to avenge the ‘blood of the martyr’ and identified the U.S. and Israel as ‘the main perpetrators of this crime,’ according to Iran's state-run Tasnim News Agency.

According to recent data, there are approximately two billion Muslims in the world, although only about ten percent, or two hundred million, are Shia. 

Why it Matters

For members of the Muslim community, a fatwa is a binding religious edict that can be used as the basis for action. Most Muslims in the world are Sunni, but a small minority are Shia Muslims, and Iran is a majority Shia nation.

In the past, fatwas like this one have been used as the basis for terrorist organizations to launch attacks on civilians around the world. For example, a 1989 fatwa by the previous Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini against writer Salman Rushdie led to global protests and violent attacks on his translators and publishers.

This fatwa could trigger a fresh wave of global terrorism and jihadism, but the severity of such a wave depends on the extent to which followers are willing to act on the decree. Most Muslims in the past have tended to ignore such rulings, or at least not to commit any physical acts of violence in their name.

There is disagreement within the Muslim community on the meaning of the word jihad, which is often translated as holy war, but it can also mean a personal struggle to remain faithful to the teachings of Islam. 

One Sunni cleric in Saudi Arabia defined jihad as ‘the struggle to overcome the limitations the world places on believers for being faithful’ to Islam. While that type of view is more prevalent among the global community of Muslims, there are some who embrace the more militant view of jihad to mean literally a form of warfare.

In particular, groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations will likely use the new fatwa in their recruiting efforts to attract new members and prepare for more attacks against Americans and Israelis. 

As a result of the fatwa and the threat it could pose to Americans and Israelis here and abroad, additional security measures will likely be put in place around military installations and government buildings. More stringent security measures may also be employed at airports in the U.S. and Europe.

How it Affects You

The idea behind the fatwa is to inspire attacks against the U.S. and Israel, not to provide specific instructions on how or where such attacks might take place. That makes anticipating potential attacks more difficult, but it also means that terrorist groups are on their own when it comes to the planning and execution of such attacks.