This review reports the main fatwas [religious-legal rulings] issued in response to readers’ questions by Sheikh Abu al-Mundhir al-Shanqiti between July-September 2013. There was a significant decrease in the number of fatwas published during this period on the Minbar Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad Web site, where al-Shanqiti generally publishes his fatwas. Since these were not quiet months in the various arena of jihad, and many incidents indeed took place during this time, it is difficult to explain the decrease in the number of fatwas in the absence of issues on the agenda.

The following is a partial list of the issues faced in various arenas of jihad during these months, but which were not addressed at all by al-Shanqiti’s fatwas. It is hard to find parallel questions or precedents for most of these issues in al-Shanqiti’s previous fatwas.

• The use of chemical weapons against rebels in Syria.
• The bloody clashes in Egypt in general, and in the Sinai Peninsula in particular.
• The terrorist attack carried out by Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya.
• The assassination of Abu Mansour al-Amriki by members of Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen.

Since the questions were sent by Web surfers to al-Shanqiti on private interfaces, it is impossible to know whether fewer questions were asked or whether al-Shanqiti himself chose not to respond to them (or was prevented from responding to them).

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