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Pokemon "Crisis" Increases
CAIRO, April 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Leading Muslim scholars in the Gulf country of the United Arab Emirates said Thursday religious authorities would soon issue a fatwa, a religious edict, on the children's video and card game, Pokemon.
The ruling may add the country to the growing list of Muslim countries that have banned the game on religious grounds.
"A decision concerning this issue will be given in the next few days," Sheikh Ahmed al-Haddad of the oil-rich country told reporters.
Pokemon, which originated in Japan in 1996 and has since stormed world markets, is popular among the Gulf region's notoriously big-spenders. But some Muslim scholars have recently condemned the game as "unIslamic" and have asked for its removal from the market.
On Wednesday, the Grand Sheikh of Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning, Al-Azhar, said the game was religiously unacceptable. "As long as the game promotes gambling and encourages violence and delinquency in children, then it is haram [forbidden]," he said.
On the same day, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Nasser Farid Wassel, found another reason for labeling the popular game "a threat" to Muslim beliefs. He said the game implanted Darwinist theories into children's minds.
"Pokemon contradicts Islam's main tenets. It promotes Darwinism, which states that Man was originally an ape… evolution is often mentioned in the cartoons. Children absorb the idea this way easily and naturally."
The fatwa followed on the heels of a ban on the children's game in both Saudi Arabia and Qatar also on the basis that it promotes gambling, as children sometimes pay one another to obtain cards missing from their collections. Pokemon detractors also claim the cards display Zionist and Freemasonry symbols, although the Japanese manufacturer denies using any religious symbolism.
Jordan, another Arab country, has reportedly shown concern that the game could be a bad influence on children.
"We are very concerned by this issue for the sake of our children," Jordan's Mufti Said Hijjawi said.
"There is no ban, but high concern," he said when asked if Jordan planned to follow the Saudi and Qatari example.
Satoshi Tajira, who initially produced a video, created the game in Japan. The craze has since spread to trading cards, comic books, a television series, film and toys, with sales running into billions of dollars.
Tajira based his 150 lively and colorful Pokemon characters with the slogan "Gotta Catch'em All" on his childhood fondness for gathering insects and watching monsters on television.
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