Incase you haven’t heard about it, a new game Pokémon Go has taken the world by storm.
The game allows players to capture, battle, and train virtual Pokémon who appear throughout the real world. It makes use of GPS and the camera of compatible devices.
Within a week of release, it became the most active mobile game ever in the United States with more than 21 million players.
Since its launch Pokémon Go has been called many things- time wasting, dangerous and distracting for children.But now a new charge has been levelled at it, ‘un-Islamic.’
Top Islamic Scholars in Egypt are less than pleased with the craze and have declared it ‘haraam’- forbidden in Arabic.
“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” explains Abbas Shuman, Deputy head of Al Azhar-Egypt’s top Islamic institution.
” Sometimes we find some lunatics walk into mosques, churches, prisons and military units in search of the missing Pokemon”
Although Pokemon Go has not been officially launched in Egypt, many mobile users in the country have been able to download it on their phones.
The game has also provoked condemnation in Saudi Arabia where the Higher Committee for Scientific Research and Islamic Law issued a fatwa against the game, describing it as “possessing the minds” of children while promoting gambling.
Also US radio show host and pastor Rick Wiles said he recently recounted a story on his show about how he called police on a man he saw taking photos of his office building, only to learn the suspect was playing the popular new app Pokemon Go.
“These Pokémon creatures are, like, virtual cyber demons—digital demons,” said pastor Wiles who also had several interesting theories about how Pokemon were being used to corrupt the youth around America.
“What if this technology is transferred to Islamic jihadists and the Islamic jihadists have an app that shows them where Christians are located geographically?”
Interesting view from Pastor Wiles. Against this backdrop will you play Pokémon Go? The game is really taking the world by storm, in a way never before experienced.
Lemme download it
I think I would download this game, let me see what the craze is all about…
Manny the long lost MDB’er
The location-based game, in which the worst thing to happen is a Pokemon escaping a “Poke Ball,” has seen people falling off cliffs and getting stabbed but refusing treatment because they wanted to “catch ‘em all.” Moreover, the Israel Defense Forces has also warned its soldiers against playing the game on military bases, as it requires a camera.