Saudi scholar backs fatwa banning unlawful WiFi use

Hacking a system was strictly forbidden. (AP)

JEDDAH: A senior Saudi scholar has backed a religious edit issued in Dubai that prohibits the use of WiFi without the paying subscriber’s consent.

Ƶ’s Sheikh Ali Al-Hakami said the Grand Mufti of Dubai Ahmed Al-Haddad was correct in issuing his fatwa on the matter because it was stealing from the person paying for the service from an Internet provider.
It was only permissible to use systems deliberately opened for public use by shopping centers, government departments and hotels. Hacking a system was strictly forbidden, he was quoted as saying by a local publication on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the 55-year-old debate about the permissibility of singing and the use of musical instruments rages on in the Kingdom, with various scholars weighing in on the subject.
Last month, prominent Saudi scholar Sheikh Saleh Al-Maghamsi created a stir, particularly on social media, saying that there was no verse in the Qur’an expressly forbidding music.
“If God wanted to speak on music in general, he would have given a verse on this, but there is no such verse,” he said. “There’s no consensus,” the sheikh said about music’s permissibility.
In 1961, Al-Raid magazine published a long article by Abu Turab Al-Zahiri entitled “Qur’an and Sunnah does not forbid singing, musical instruments and flutes, or listening to them.”
This was followed by a debate among various scholars based on the writings of 12th century scholar Sheikh Mohammed Al-Ghazali, who said music is allowed only under certain circumstances.
And then in 2009, Sheikh Adil Kalbani, the former imam at the Grand Mosque, was quoted as saying by Al-Arabiya: “There is no clear text or ruling in Islam that singing and music are prohibited.” He then told an online newspaper: “I am talking about decent singing, which contains decent words, and supports morality.”