Abstract
This thesis takes a closer look at Dr. Muhammed Tahir-ul Qadri’s Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombing. It attempts to answer questions about what message the fatwa presents, in what way this message is presented, and whether or not the message has had an effect on the social world. These questions are answered by analyzing the fatwa in light of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA), which employs three distinctive analytical dimensions: text, discursive and social practice. Through the text analysis I assert that the fatwa supports its stance against terrorism through four main discourses: the normative basis of Islam, the sanctity of human life, rebellion is illegal, and terrorists are modern-day Kharijites. Through the discursive practice analysis I analyze if and in what way these discourses are employed by other, like mined, works by influential Muslim scholars. This analysis revealed that while Qadri’s fatwa employs the same discourses as these other works, it does so in a more comprehensive fashion. The social practice analysis uses the theory of countering violent extremism (CVE) through which to analyze the fatwa. Viewing the fatwa as a counter-narrative, one of the many initiatives that CVE employs, I attempt to say something about the possibilities it has for effecting change on its social surroundings. While definitive proof of such change is outside the scope of this thesis, it does determine that on the basis of CVE and the fatwa’s extensive availability and use in different platforms, it would not be unreasonable to assume it has had a social effect.