Pokemon Go is ‘Haram’ in Saudi Arabia

What harmful effect can a game like Pokemon Go, which has taken the world by storm, have on its players?

Okay, before you add your fanboi two bits by screaming ‘None!’, the game has lead people to quit jobs and go a bit soft in the head. However, Saudi Arabia’s top clerics have found the game objectionable for entirely different reasons.

According to Saudi Arabia based Arab News, General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars of the country has renewed a 2001 fatwa declaring the game “haram” on July 20.

The 16-year-old fatwa (No. 21,758) was invoked as the law makers felt that the game is no different from its earlier 2001 version.

The game has been banned because, according to the senior scholars, it promotes gambling, polytheism, “promotion and advertising of disbelief, logos, forbidden images”.

However, the fatwa has’t stopped people from illegally downloading it though it hasn’t been officially released in the country.