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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM DANNY MILLER
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
Camp Kick-a-Lot campers, ages 7 to 10, play on the new playground during a grand opening of the play area Monday at the Warrenton Soccer Complex.
ODDITY
Pokemon? No
Saudi clerics see Jews,
Freemasons, not Pikachu
By AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press
D
UBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia’s
top clerics renewed a religious edict that warns
against playing Pokemon, this time as the wildly
popular mobile phone application “Pokemon Go”.
First issued in 2001 when the game was played with
cards, the decree says Pokemon violates Islamic pro-
hibitions against gambling, uses devious Masonic-like
symbols and promotes “forbidden images.” The edict,
or fatwa, has reappeared in a ticker on the home page
of the kingdom’s portal for oficial religious decrees.
Saudi-based Arab News reported that Sheikh Saleh
al-Fozan, a member of the kingdom’s ultraconservative
council of senior clerics, said the current version of the
game is the same as the old one.
The edict notes that a six-pointed star in the game,
for example, is associated with the state of Israel and
that certain triangular symbols hold important mean-
ings for the Freemasonry. Crosses in the game are a
symbol of Christianity, while other symbols are associ-
ated with polytheism, says the edict.
Additionally, the edict states parents are using the
game to punish and reward children, while warning that
adults could gamble away money playing the game.
The augmented reality game sees users chasing
digital critters that pop up as you move about the real
world. There have been reports of distracted players
walking into trees, crashing their cars, and even being
robbed and stabbed by crooks who lured players trying
to pounce on Pikachus or chase Charmanders.
The game is popular in the Middle East and many
gamers have downloaded the app though it’s not been
oficially released regionally.
A senior oficial at Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the pre-emi-
nent seat of Sunni scholarship in the Muslim world, has
also spoken out against the game. Al-Azhar Undersec-
retary Abbas Shumman said users can lose their sense
of reality and endanger themselves while playing. The
state-run al-Ahram reported Shumman saying a “manic
attachment to technology” can also make people for-
getful toward worship and prayer.
Neighboring Kuwait’s Interior Ministry warned
users last week not to play the game at mosques, shop-
ping centers, malls and oil installations. Authorities in
the United Arab Emirates warned users to be careful
playing mobile games that request a user’s geograph-
ical location because it could be used by criminals to
lure them.
AP Photo/Koji Sasahara
A stuffed toy of Pikachu, a Pokemon character, is surrounded by children during a Pokemon festival in Tokyo.
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