From the monthly archives:

May 2010

Image of kids looking on as woman is caned for staying with her boyfriend.

A Fatwa on Final Fantasy?

by mark on May 13, 2010

Imam worries about effect of PC games on children.

An imam here expressed concern over the impact of computer games on children, saying the portrayal of gods as well as heaven and hell in these games could potentially confuse them about the concept of the hereafter.

Chief Imam of the Usamah bin Zahid Mosque in Wangsa Maju, Ustaz Murshidi Abdul Hamid, said although these were merely games, if left unchecked, it could negatively impact the minds of the young people.

Parents should prohibit their children from playing certain games if they contain elements which are against or derogatory to Islam,” he told Bernama.

While the rest of us are concerned about excessive gaming and it’s affects on our children, Imam Hamid is apparently mainly concerned about offense to Islam.

Meanwhile, a lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Communications and Media Studies Faculty, Ishak Abdul Hamid [A different "Abdul Hamid" than the Imam mentioned above], said exposure to negative elements in computer games could also affect the children’s psychological development.

“They become obsessed with playing computer games to the point of neglecting their studies,” he said.

Good thing they are taking these steps, because we wouldn’t want Muslim kids being exposed to anything that would affect their psychological development in a negative way!

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