A sourpuss Saudi cleric has declared a selfie catwa!
Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan was furious when told that “taking pictures with cats has been spreading among people who want to be like the Westerners,” Euronews reported.
The sheikh, a member of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars, was asked on TV about the social media feline phenomenon.
“What? What do you mean pictures with cats? Taking pictures is prohibited,” the claw enforcer snapped, the Standard of the UK reported. “The cats don’t matter here!”
Under Saudi Arabia’s strict interpretation of Islam — known as Wahhabism — many practices common in the West are punishable in that country.
As he continued to take questions from viewers about the pictures, he added: “Explain this trend to me.”
He then added: “Taking pictures is prohibited if not a necessity — not with cats, not with dogs, not with wolves, not with anything!”
According to religious law, the “picture-maker would be cursed,” he warned.
The video has appeared on YouTube after it was translated into English by monitoring group the Middle East Media Research Institute.