Muslim group issues Fatwa on mobile phone etiquette

WITH A SHORTAGE TO REFERENCES to mobile phones in the Koran, clerics from the Indian Islamic group Jamia Ashraf-ul-Madaris have drawn up rules to be followed by the faithful.

Using aayats, verses from the Koran, as ringtones is right out of order, because if you answer the call it leaves the verse incomplete.

Ghyasuddin, a senior cleric, told the Press Association that if you listen only halfway through to an verse it is anti-Islamic and amounts to a sin.

People should think of the effect that it has on children, who if they are told something is a sin will forever look at their parents in a funny way.

We would have thought that most kids who hear their parents using a verse as a ring tone will think that their parents are particularly religious, rather than they are miserable sinners who deserve to go to hell.

Ghyasuddin says you should not use your mobile phone in the loo either, particularly if you are using that aayat ring tone. This could also apparently break Koranic codes on the art of defecation.

Setting your phone to vibrate during prayers is also a big no no. This is because it distracts you. "It's disgraceful if one can't even give a peaceful half an hour to Allah," Ghyasuddin said. µ

L'Inq
Channel 4