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Egypt's Muslim Clerics Ban Television Game Show
CAIRO, July 2 (News Agencies) - Egypt's grand mufti has issued a religious decree, or fatwa, against television game shows, judging them to be a form of betting which is outlawed by Islam, he said in a statement.
Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel said programs on Egyptian television, such as "Who will win the million?" and others in which viewers telephone in with answers to questions asked on air, were "forbidden by Islamic law."
"These contests are a modern form of betting… because all participants contribute money to the prize through the price of their telephone call," said the grand mufti, one of Egypt's leading Muslim clerics.
Sheikh Wassel also accused the program organizers of "defrauding, deceiving and swindling" viewers out of their money and only offering a small portion of those funds back as prizes.
Egyptian state television has witnessed a recent surge in game shows such as "Who will win the million?" which offers a million Saudi riyals (around $270,000) and the Egyptian show "Pyramid of Dreams" whose grand prize is 10,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,600) and a car.
The mufti, who is appointed by the state to issue non-binding formal religious opinions, urged the media not to broadcast such programs "in implementation of the law of Allah."
He said a team of Muslim clerics approved his decision.
There was no immediate reaction from the state television to the fatwa, which comes only a few weeks after renowned Islamic scholar, Youssef al-Qaradawi, issued a similar fatwa in the Gulf, prompting a halt to a popular program that was advertised extensively on local televisions.
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