A Saudi-based islamic preacher, Wajdi Akkari, has urged fellow Muslims not to use certain emojis on messaging apps because they are blasphemous.
He further said that it was ‘haram’ – or forbidden – for Muslims to use the angel, ‘anything devilish’ or even the prayer symbol.
He said: ‘When someone wants to share their innocence or say, “I’m a good boy”, they send that yellow smiley face with a halo. No!
‘Do we believe that angels in Islam are like the angels in Christianity… Absolutely not.’
Akkari, who has a Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies and now lectures in Saudi Arabia, claimed using any ‘devilish’ emojis are also out of bounds for Muslims.
He added: ‘We don’t know what Satan and the devil look like. Therefore, we are not allowed to draw him.
‘These emojis that are devilish in their nature are not allowed, even if you are trying to say that “you are being a bad boy or a bad girl”.’
On his website, ‘One way to paradise‘, Akkari credits Islam for saving him from a life of self destruction and ‘humiliation’.
As a young man in America, he joined an rap group called ‘Scums of the Earth’ with whom he ‘got into all kinds of Hollywood-like situations’.
He wrote: ‘I suffered a lot for 5 years internally even though externally I appeared to be living a lavish life and enjoying myself.’