The Egyptian Dar al-Ifta’s latest fatwa prohibited online chatting between men and women “foreign to each other,” Ahram Online reported.Dar al-Ifta, an authority responsible for issuing edicts on Islam, issued the fatwa in an online statement to answer “frequently asked questions,” according to the news website.
Online chat rooms are “frivolous, evil and open the door for the devil, corruption and Fitna[disorderly behavior that leads to un-Islamic acts]," the edict read, adding that these conversations are permissible in “cases of necessity.”
Also, Dar al-Ifta said a woman should never send a picture of herself to strangers in order “to protect herself” and “preserve her dignity,” Al Ahram Online said.
These photos are then used "in corrupted acts by deviants, and it is deemed foreign to our religion," the post explained.
According to the fatwa, “repeated experiences prove that in our time [online chats] waste time and are a purposeless utilization of time.”
Al Ahram Online reported that Egyptian social media users ridiculed edict.
