Egyptian cleric issues fatwa forbidding Muslims from Facebook
February 5th, 2010 - 3:17 pm ICT by IANS
Cairo, Feb 5 (IANS/AKI) A top Egyptian cleric has issued a fatwa forbidding the use of the popular social networking site Facebook, saying Muslims using such sites must be considered “sinners”.
Statistics show that divorce rates have rise since the advent of Facebook and it has sharply increased marital infidelity, Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atras said.
“It’s an instrument that destroys the family because it encourages spouses to have relations with other people which break Islamic sharia law,” said al-Atrash, quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat.
He is the former head of the fatwa commission at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.
“While one or other of the spouses is at work, the other is chatting online with someone else, wasting their time and flouting the Sharia. This endangers the Muslim family,” said al-Atrash.
The edict followed the publication earlier this week of a study claiming one out of five of divorces in Egypt had been caused by liaisons begun on Facebook or other social networking sites.
Like satellite TV, social networking sites are a “double-edged sword”, al-Atrash said.
“While they permit the spread of Islam, they allow people forbidden love and relations.
“That is why whoever uses such websites must be considered a sinner,” he said.
–IANS/AKI
rd/mr
- Al Qaeda providing free electricity in Yemen - May 03, 2012
- Saudi king to allow only official fatwas - Aug 13, 2010
- Flights resume in Italy and to some European airports - Apr 20, 2010
- Sudan's president calls ICC 'a mosquito in the ear of elephant' - Jan 30, 2009
- Egypt building Gaza underground wall - Dec 17, 2009
- Bin Laden's son in Damascus after eight years in Iran - Jan 06, 2010
- Jihadists flood web with anti-British messages - Aug 11, 2011
- Anti-government protests in Morocco planned on Facebook - Feb 05, 2011
- Egypt, Hamas agree on truce plan, await Israeli approval - Jan 16, 2009
- Egypt sets up committee to re-check Mubarak's health - May 20, 2011
- Israel to offer "extensive and tempting" withdrawal plan to Palestine - Aug 15, 2010
- Facebook blamed for divorces in Britain - Jan 22, 2011
- Iran says it can't confirm identity of Osama bin Laden's daughter - Dec 25, 2009
- Ukrainian, two Israelis get life term in Egypt - Mar 13, 2012
- Facebook helps save woman from sex-slavery in Italy - Nov 10, 2010
Tags: abdel hamid, al azhar university, al sharq, cairo, divorce rates, divorces, double edged sword, edict, egyptian cleric, facebook, islamic sharia law, liaisons, marital infidelity, muslim family, pan arab, satellite tv, sinner, social networking site, social networking sites, spread of islam