Saudi Arabia religious body issues fatwa declaring Pokemon sinful and un-Islamic
Clerics say the imaginary creatures in the game promote gambling, Zionism and the worship of multiple false gods
THE world has been in the grip of Pokemon Go fever in recent weeks.
In the time since the game’s release, it has quickly gone viral – causing Nintendo to double in value.
But not everyone has been so keen on the latest global craze.
Saudi Arabia’s top religious body has issued a fatwa – a religious ruling – declaring Pokemon sinful.
The General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars said the imaginary creatures promoted gambling and Zionism.
The council said the mutations of the creatures in the game amounted to blasphemy by promoting the un-Islamic idea of natural evolution.
The decree also said Pokemon promoted the worship of multiple gods, and compared them to drinking alcohol.
According to , the fatwa read: “It is shocking that the word 'evolution' has been much on the tongues of children.”
The Saudi council that issued the fatwa is headed by the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh.
Al-Asheikh recently said social media was a sinful tool used to “spread and publish corruption in the land”.
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But the Grand Mufti is not the only one to take issue with the Pokemon craze.
Egyptian cleric Abbas Shuman branded the game a “harmful mania”.
According to , he said: “This game makes people look like drunkards in the streets and on the roads while their eyes are glued to the mobile screens leading them to the location of the imaginary Pokemon in the hope of catching it.”
He also suggested the game could cause people to disrespect holy places, or draw them away from purer or more wholesome pursuits in life.
Shuman asked: “Will we find some lunatics walk into mosques, churches, prisons and military units in search of the missing [Pokemon]?
“Will people neglect their work and earning their living and devote themselves instead to hunting for Pokemon?”