Bangladeshi cleric issues fatwa against Facebook’s laughing emoji

A cleric in Bangladesh has issued fatwa against Facebook’s laughing (haha) emoji, Geo News has reported. The cleric named, Ahmadullah, has huge social media presence, with more than three million followers on Facebook and YouTube.

On Saturday (June 19), he posted a three-minute video in which he discussed the mocking of people on Facebook and issued a fatwa, explaining how it is “totally haram” (forbidden) for Muslims.

“Nowadays we use Facebook’s haha emojis to mock people,” Ahmadullah said in the video, adding, “If we react with haha emojis purely out of fun and the same was intended by the person who posted the content, it’s fine.”

“But if your reaction was intended to mock or ridicule people who posted or made comments on social media, it’s totally forbidden in Islam,” he added.

“For God’s sake, I request you to refrain from this act. Do not react with ‘haha’ to mock someone. If you hurt a Muslim, he may respond with bad language that would be unexpected.”

The video has at least two million views.