Malaysia Issues Fatwa On Ghosts

Well, there have been fatwa's against authors, fatwa's against Muslim's marrying Buddhists, and even a fatwa against urinating while standing up. The latest to be added to the long list of don'ts for Muslims ... ghosts.

The Malaysian state media is reporting that a museum has closed an exhibition on supernatural beings after an Islamic religious authority issued a fatwa, or decree, against it. The National Fatwa Council made the ruling last week that said that any exhibition on ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings were forbidden because it could undermine the faith of Muslims. Abdul Shukor Husin, the council's chair, was quoted as saying that "supernatural beings are beyond the comprehension of the human mind. We don't want to expose Muslims to supernatural and superstitious beliefs." The ghost and genie exhibition opened on March 10 at a museum in the western state of Negri Sembilan. It was scheduled to run until May 31 and thousands of visitors had already viewed it. The curator of the museum had been resisting Malaysia's Arts Minister and religious leaders to shut the showing down because it encouraged people to believe in ghosts and that belief is un-Islamic. However, once the National Fatwa Council passed its ruling, Kamaruddin Siaraf, Negeri Sembilan's state secretary and chair of the state museum board, said the exhibition was closed. He said the decision was made out of respect for the council's views. Government officials in Malaysia are also calling for a ban on another exhibition in a state museum that has is displaying decaying objects described as the carcasses of a genie and a mythical phoenix bird. Last year more than 200,000 people attended an exhibition of about 100 coffins, ghosts and genies that organisers claimed included relics of mermaids and vampires.