A Consuming Pre-Occupation with Croc(k) Fatwas

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From this story, “Iran: Religious edict authorizes crocodile meat consumption”: 

Tehran, February 18, 2008 (Adnkronos International)— 

Iranian Shia religious authorities have issued a fatwa, or religious edict allowing crocodile meat to be eaten by humans. The meat of amphibian animals is deemed “haram” or forbidden under Islam, while fish and seafood may be consumed. Iranian regions have for some time been breeding crocodiles for their valuable skins, which are exported to Europe to make shoes, bags and belts etc. The fatwa came after a request by Iranian crocodile breeders who did not know what to do with the crocodile meat. The Short-Muzzle crocodile, known by local people as the Gando, or Persian Crocodile, grows up to five metres in length and is indigenous to Iran. 

Can the same “Iranian religious authorities” issue fatwas rendering jihad, najis, and infidel (especially Jew)-hatred “haram,” perhaps?  Alas, for now they appear forever trapped in the closed circle of Croc(k) Fatwas, a system of casuistry and soul-destroying pedantry, which as the great scholar of Islamic Law Joseph Schacht (here, p. 397) surmised aptly,  

…leads to the result that considerations of good faith, fairness, justice, truth, and so on play only a subordinate part in the system.  

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