India’s two prominent Islamic helplines are discouraging young callers, especially women, from creating profiles and posting pictures on popular social-networking websites Facebook and Twitter, saying it is un-Islamic, Indian media reported on Sunday.
Many people are calling the heads of the two Lucknow-based helplines, run for Shia and Sunni Muslims, to ask if virtual profiles are Islamic.
“You can’t see someone’s face on Facebook and decide that you want to be friends. Look for love in real life. Virtual relationships are not useful,” said Sunni Mufti Abul Irfan Naimul Halim Firagni Mahli.
The Mufti wants youngsters to meet in the real and not the virtual world.
More than half of the over 1,000 calls that the mufti receives on his helpline per month include questions about internet usage.
“If one is on Facebook for business or constructive purposes then the account is justifiable,” he said.
However, the mufti is not pleased about women being on Facebook to make friends and is against them uploading pictures on the website.
“Women should not post pictures on Facebook or anywhere else on the internet. This is un-Islamic,” he said.
A cleric from the Shia sect also endorsed the mufti’s views.
“Women are not allowed to show their faces to anyone apart from their ‘mehram’ (male kin like father and brothers),” he said.
“We are liberal. When youngsters ask us if they can have a Facebook or Twitter profile, we allow that. But the Shariah (Islamic law) does not allow women to post pictures,” he said.
“Islam has prescribed ‘hijab’ for women. They have been asked to hide their faces in public so how can they be allowed to do so on the internet?” he asked.