Not so fast there wrt the fatwa:
The Islamic Supreme Council of America site:
'We might compare a fatwā to the legal ruling of a high court or the Supreme Court, depending on the authority of the mufti behind it. However, a fatwā is not binding as is the verdict of the secular courts; while correct and applicable to all members of the Muslim faith, the fatwā is optional for the individual to respect or not.
[as opposed to the binding power of a civil court ruling, observing a fatwa is up to the conscience of the believer]
A qaļā, on the other hand, is a legal ruling made by a judge (qādī) that, issued in a nation where Islamic law is observed, is binding on those to whom it is dealt. Usually issued to resolve a legal dispute, a qaļā may be based on a fatwā, yet it applies only to the individuals or groups named in the ruling and no one else. A ruler can impose a qaļā on his entire nation.
Although there is no central Islamic governing authority today ? the last having been dismantled with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, there are generally accepted standards for granting anyone the authority to issue a fatwā. This is an extremely rigorous standard requiring many years of training and study. The fatwā is not based upon the mufti?s own will and ideas, but rendered in accordance with fixed precedents from the sources of Islamic law.
In order to issue an authorized fatwā using his individual skills of reasoning, the mufti or scholar must meet the standards of ijtihād. This is the highest standard in issuing a juristic ruling. In general, this means he must be able to distinguish between the other scholars? positions and their supporting evidence, and judge one stronger according to the strength or weakness of the evidence.'
So a fatwa, while not binding in the way the ruling of a civil court is binding, is actually 'correct and applicable to all members of the Muslim faith' assuming the issuer complies with the conditions that are in place to ensure authority is in place.
Further on -- 'It often happens that different Islamic clerics issue contradictory, or competing, fatwās. This divergence of opinion is not considered an issue in Islam; in fact, a well-known saying states that such differences among scholars are God?s mercy, for they allow for different conditions and temperaments among people.
In nations that observe Islamic law, fatwās are debated before being issued publicly. They are affirmed only by consensus, which is determined by the supreme religious council of that nation. In such cases, fatwās are rarely contradictory, and carry the power of enforceable law. If two fatwās do contradict one another, the ruling bodies (which often combine civil and religious law) establish a compromise. This differs in the Shi¿a tradition, which demands that each individual Muslim choose one mufti (marja¿) to follow exclusively in all aspects of religious law.
In nations that do not recognize Islamic law, Muslims confronted with competing fatwās would follow the ruling of the scholar observing their same religious tradition. If two muftis of the same tradition issue conflicting fatwās, a Muslim may choose between them. In practice however, following a particular school is not strictly observed.
These are the requirements for a scholar or religious leader to issue a fatwā that is recognized under Islamic law. Having established this, we may now consider whether fatwās issued by militants, including the many we have read in the past five years, have any authority. Again, the worldwide media has repeatedly presented cases in which known Muslim militants use a fatwā to either declare war or announce another violent action.
However, unless he who makes the declaration is extremely well-educated and trained in Islamic jurisprudence according to the requirements mentioned above, he has no authority to issue a fatwā. The Prophet Muhammad (s) said, ?Whoever gives fatwā without knowledge, the angels of the heaven and the earth curse him." Second, if he is so qualified, the fatwā remains non-binding, applying only to those choose to accept and wish to enforce it.'
SO it can be accepted or not accepted -- it is not binding individually but applicable to all Muslims, along the lines of 'your mission, should you choose to accept it...'. However, a fatwa has to be completely grounded in Islamic tradition, the Koran, etc., and those issuing them have to be properly qualified. I think it can be inferred therefore that a fatwa carries much more weight than your dismissive paragraph implies, Chaz.