Muslims using networking sites are sinners: fatwa

Terming the use of networking sites such as Facebook as anti-Islamic, a top Egyptian cleric has issued a fatwa against it saying Muslims using such cyber platforms must be considered "sinners".

And the cleric went to extent of blaming such sites for growing incidents of marital discords in the country.

Noted Sunni scholar Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atras, former head of the fatwa commission at prestigious Al-Azhar University here, issued the fatwa saying such sites have resulted in rise of the marital infidelity.

"It's an instrument that destroys the family because it encourages spouses to have relations with other people who break Islamic Sharia law," he said in the fatwa.

"While one or other of the spouses is at work, the other is chatting online with someone else, wasting their time and flouting the Sharia. This endangers the Muslim family," said al-Atrash.

The fatwa came after a study earlier this week claimed that one in every five cases of divorces in Egypt had been caused after one of the partners started using social networking sites such as Facebook.

Last month, Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Jumah condemned the practice of using Quranic verses as the mobile ringtones terming it as "improper" as it compromises the sacredness of the religious scriptures.