Fatwa Issued Banning Honor Killings

(Beirut, Lebanon) Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah has spoken.

Lebanon's most senior Shia cleric issued on Thursday a fatwa, or religious edict, banning honour killings, calling the custom of murdering a female relative for sexual misconduct "a repulsive act".

There. That'll put an end to a practice that has been around for -- oh -- at least 1,000 years.

Realistically, though, the fatwa banning honor killings has to be considered the Muslim equivalent to Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" anti-drug message. Good idea but likely to be ignored by many people. In fact, the Grand Ayatollah only counts 1.2 million Shiites as his followers, leaving 99% of the world's Muslims not affected by his fatwa.

Nevertheless, it's a step in the right direction.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.