Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Riyadh, 2 July (AKI) - The imam of a mosque in the Muslim holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia has said that it is wrong to issue fatwas or religious edicts on the Internet.

“It is wrong to think that from the Internet, science can be revealed and Sharia [Islamic law] can be developed,” said Sheikh Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, the imam of the al-Qubba mosque in Medina.

“One cannot use these means to issue fatwas,” he said. during the transmission of the first Saudi channel dedicated to the dangers of al-Qaeda propaganda on the Internet.

Addressing Saudi youth, the imam said that there was no need to believe everything that that was found on the Web, especially sites that deal with Islamic law.

“No one can prevent people from using the Internet, because that involves their private affairs.

“The Internet is something that is used inside people’s homes and no one can dictate what people do in their homes.

“What we can do, is to teach them how to use this medium. It has to be stressed that the Internet, as an instrument, is not for issuing fatwas or to develop Sharia law.

“The Internet is like a pharmacy where there are all kinds of medicines, but one needs to know first what’s needed and what’s not,” he said.

The imam of Medina also stressed that the spirit of rebellion that characterises young people often pushes Saudi youth to look for the truth in false imams and people of disrepute.

“The young people that use the Internet are between 16 and 20 years old,” he said.

“These are the ones that often visit these websites and they are in a very delicate phase of their lives because it is the one in which they put the most passion into what they do.

“These young people do not want to listen to the words of an official imam who works in a grand mosque, but instead look to little known sheikhs who go against the tide.”