Egypt: Fatwa forbids Muslims from using Facebook

Here’s some latest ‘development’ on facebook. Looks like not everyone is into the idea of social networking. I wonder if Egypt also despise the idea of online shopping like Amazon books?

Cairo, 4 Feb. (AKI) – A top Egyptian cleric has issued a fatwa forbidding use of the popular social networking site Facebook. Muslims using such sites must be considered “sinners” said the religious edict’s author, sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atras. Statistics show divorce rates have rise since the advent of Facebook and it has sharply increased marital infidelity, he claimed.

“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, one of the highest authorities in Sunni Islam.

“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.

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