To be sure, Christian and Jewish theologians across the ages have issued their own interpretations of religious law or doctrine, edicts that sometimes ran counter to scientific findings or modern notions. It took more than 350 years -- until 1992 -- for the Roman Catholic Church to reverse its condemnation of Galileo, who argued that the earth revolved around the Sun; some rabbis still disagree over whether selling Israeli land to Arabs violates Jewish law.

In its strictest sense, a fatwa is an interpretation by a Koranic scholar of how Islamic laws written long ago apply to the demands of everyday life.

Throughout Muslim history, fatwas have had their ups and downs. In the first few centuries of Islam, when the Muslim empire stretched from Arabia to Spain, fatwas tilted in liberal progressive directions, reflecting the triumph of a new faith. Clerics often issued fatwas counseling kindness toward Christians and Jews.

After the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt, when a number of eminent sheiks traveled to France and studied there, some returned to issue edicts urging the translation of French literary works and tolerance of foreigners. Today, sheiks tend to disapprove of Western literature.

During the 1960's, when secular Arab nationalism was at its apex, Islamic fundamentalists were often shunted aside on political issues, with their views and fatwas limited to areas like religious fasting, marriage, divorce and charitable obligations.

Most fatwas are still issued in response to such questions. In newspaper columns during this Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when fasting and prayer are the norm, letters to religious scholars seek fatwas on such questions as whether one should fast during an airline flight and on whether charitable donations from belly dancers are accepted as good works by God.

Opinion varies widely from one scholar to the next and from one country to another, reflecting patterns of social development. But it is when men of religion wade into political questions that fireworks really begin.