Facebook gets ban Fatwa in Egypt

Facebook faces a ban in Egypt since some of Egypt’s Islamic leaders believe that Facebook might be one of the reasons for the recent increase in the number of cases of marital infidelity and divorces. Most of the religious clerical population of Egypt, want Facebook termed as a prohibited site in Egypt.  The Fatwa issued on fifth of February 2010 has created a lot of stir among the Egyptian population. However, Shaykh Abd-al-Hamid al-Atrash does not seem eye to eye on with Facebook users of Egypt and the Fatwa came from him.

According to him, the Facebook is spreading evil among the Muslim and Arab community in Egypt and requires restraining and stopping from doing so. As the Fatwa Commission’s former chairperson, he emphasizes on the fact that the Muslim and Arab communities have some special and particular characteristics that do not match with the rest of the communities throughout the world and to preserve those characteristics it is necessary to stop elements like Facebook from “violating” them.

However, Egyptian media and journalists believe that Facebook is neither responsible for any evil and neither it is a blessing. However, it is quite true that the social networking site has helped many to meet up with many new people and be open to new ideas, which were completely unknown previously. It has also helved many social activists and their causes, as they were able to spread word regarding various movements and rights.

Facebook has also become the voice of the youth as they were able to express them selves better on this social networking site and hold healthy discussions on the internet to resolve various issues and differences,. Moreover, it opened new ideas and horizons for the Egyptian youth, which can gain something out of this social networking site, as per the various protestors of this Fatwa.