Pokemon no-Go? Saudi clerics deny ruling against mobile game

Saudi Arabia's senior council of clerics denied on Thursday renewing a 15-year-old religious edict warning against playing Pokemon, adding that the new mobile application version of the game "requires a new ruling."

The council had not yet issued an edict, or fatwa, on the popular newer version of the game Pokemon Go, it announced on its official Twitter account.

"Ruling on the latest version of the game requires a new edict, which has not yet been issued," the tweet said.

But Saudi-based Arab News reported that Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, a member of the ultraconservative council, said the current version of the game is similar to the old one.

The older fatwa prohibiting Pokemon had also re-appeared this week on a ticker on the home page of the kingdom's portal for official religious decrees issued by the council.

The kingdom's Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta said in its latest announcement on its website that it has republished a 2001 edict on the game after "receiving many questions" on it from the public.

The fatwa said the game was too much like gambling and that the concept of its characters appeared to be based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

The 15-year-old fatwa said the game was too much like gambling and that the concept of its characters appeared to be based on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, which is rejected by Islam.

It also said most cards on the game carried symbols of "deviant" religions and organisations, such as "international Zionism" and Israel, Christian crosses, Freemasonry, and symbols from Japan's native Shinto religion.

The Pokemon game was un-Islamic as it contains polytheism, said the edict, without specifically referring to the popular smartphone app.

Although the game is not yet officially available in Saudi Kingdom, many have downloaded it illegally and have started hunting for virtual "pocket monsters."

Agencies contributed to this report.