PUBG violates sanctity of Holy Kaaba? Fact Check

Islamabad: PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), a popular mobile game, is receiving backlash in Pakistan after some social media users claimed that a character shown in the game violates the sanctity of Holy Kaaba.

Social media posts containing some purported scenes from the games are doing the rounds along with Fatwa (religious decree) calling for boycott of the game.

A Facebook accompanied a picture of an Urdu language newspaper with a headline that said Jamia Binoria, an Islamic seminary in Karachi, has issued a Fatwa against the multiplayer mobile game. The Fatwa said anyone playing PUBG would be considered out of Islam.

When The Namal showed the social media posts about the game to multiple PUBG players, they said that the pictures shown in the social media posts are not part of the game.

They said that there was no scene or round in the game which features Holy Kaaba. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last year temporarily banned PUBG, for being “addictive” and detrimental to players’ health.

The ban later lifted by the Pakistani authorities.