Saudi Woman Given Lashes For Texting Stranger by Mistake

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to eight lashes by a court in Qatif for mistakenly sending a text message allegedly promoting the Shiite branch of Islam. International Business Times reports.

The 30-year-old woman, identified only as YH, has been pronounced guilty for sending an SMS to another Saudi woman, containing a group of telephone numbers under the name 'Shiite Islamic religious services'.

One phone number apparently led to Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most senior Shiite cleric who is renowned throughout the Gulf for his learned counsel on Islamic law.

Read full article. Image from Sinaipost.

Thousands sign up for Pope election text message

Over 35,000 people have signed up for PopeAlarm.com, a service of the Fellowship of Catholic University Students that sends out a free text and e-mail alert when the next Pope is elected. [via Catholic News Agency]

Demand for the service has been high since its launch on Saturday March 9. As of Monday morning, over 35,000 people had registered for the service. The PopeAlarm.com website received over 140,000 page views.

“It’s really exploded and caught on fire,” Cotter said. “There’s a lot of social media traction.

Read full article.

Cell Phones Fatwa Invites India Uproar

A new fatwa by a leading Islamic seminary banning the use of multimedia cell phones on its Cairo campus is inviting uproar over the right of students to get access to advanced technology, reports Onislam.

Such features (cameras and videos) cause an adverse effect on academics,” Maulana Abdul Khalik, deputy vice-chancellor of Asia's leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, told Times of India on Tuesday, January 1.

We've cautioned students from whom such cellphones were seized. Next time, strong disciplinary action would be taken against erring students.

The fatwa won support from leading Muslim groups in India.

Read full article.

Texting integrated into Rosh Hashanah services

In some congregations texting was integrated into the Rosh Hashanah service. The Jewish Week reports.

NY Times Miami bureau chief Lizette Alvarez explains that in a Miami Beach Reform congregation, congregants looked up at a big white screen and read the directions: ?Pray. Write. Text.? For 90 minutes the participants used their texting thumbs to send out regrets, goals, musings and blissful thoughts for the rest of the congregation to see.

The rabbi, Amy Morrison, encouraged her parishioners rather than scolding them for texting. She said, "Take those phones out" and asked them what they needed to let go of to be "fully present?

Rabbi Morrison explained the idea to encourage texting during the High Holy Day services: "For my generation, the generation that the service is for, prayer is not something you can find in your own life until someone helps you wrestle with it... So, "I recommended texting ."

Read full article.

Fielding Jewish Legal Questions by Text Message

Like many rabbis, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner receives many requests for religious advice. A hundred years ago, Jewish people would put pencil to paper and send off their question to the rabbi and then await a response. At the end of the last century, email inquires became popular. Today, it’s not uncommon for rabbis to receive text messages from their congregants asking them to render a decision. The Jewish Week reports.

For Rabbi Aviner, these text message come into this phone as much as 200 on an average day. He can expect upwards of 500 text messages if it’s before a Jewish holiday. And Aviner actually responds to each one. He is skilled in both Jewish law as well as a gift for brevity.

Aviner has saved each of these text message teshuvot (Jewish legal responses) and they are have been published as a set.

Read more.

Islam, One SMS at a Time

In the run-up to the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, the number of spam SMS messages on Islamic themes — featuring verses from the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, exhortations to be charitable and advice on how to pray — is soaring. For some, this use of mobile telephony is evidence of the Pakistani public’s growing religiosity. For others, it’s an annoying intrusion. The International Herald Tribune reports.

Under the guise of outreach, religious organizations are mimicking advertisers and trying to tap the vast market of cellphone users in Pakistan, which boasted more than 114 million subscribers as of January. In addition to promoting religious textbooks and deals for travel to Mecca, the text messages invite users to access more religious content via SMS after paying a premium.

Read full article.

Pakistan: Fatwa on Women using cell phone. Punished by acid in face

According to Right Side News, Islamic clerics' have issued a fatwa against Pakistani women, threatening to throw acid on those using a cell phone.

Former Pakistani lawmaker and cleric Maulana Abdul Haleem recently issued a fatwa (Islamic degree) against secular education and justifying honor killings of women.

The fatwa was issued in a sermon during a weekly Friday prayer in Kohistan district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Haleem also threatened that women from secular NGOs who visit Kohistan district may be married off forcibly to local men. In a similar incident, a cleric announced a fatwa in a mosque in Noshki town of Pakistan's Baluchistan province, justifying acid attacks on women who use cell phones.

Image and related article from Sinai Post.

Buddhist temple offers a service of blessings by SMS

A famous Buddhist temple in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, encourages people to send text messages rather than burn incense to say their prayers. China Daily reports.

This go-green initiative is the first of its kind among Buddhist temples in China. It helps reduce the size of crowds during peak seasons and lowers the risk of stampedes and fires," said Han Xue, a lay Buddhist who works at Guiyuan Temple in Wuhan, which has hundreds of thousands of visitors during Spring Festival.

... The temple, in cooperation with the Hubei branch of China Mobile, a leading Chinese telecom operator, offers a service of blessings sent by text messaging.

A message with eight or fewer characters costs 3 yuan, and longer ones of up to 20 characters cost 10 yuan. Normally, text messages cost no more than 0.15 yuan.

The sender writes the text of the blessing and includes the cell phone number of the receiver. China Mobile forwards the blessing to the receiver.

From 8 am to 5 pm, the messages are shown on an LED board at the southwest corner of the temple. Monks later chant prayers for the senders and receivers.

More than 30,000 people have already tried the service - they have to be China Mobile subscribers with phone numbers in Hubei province.

Read full article.

Likud MK Danny Danon suggest Muezzin Use SMS for Call to Prayer

IsraelNationalNews reports that Likud MK Danny Danon suggested that mosques use SMS messages to call people to prayer - in order to cut down on excess noise.

Danon suggested that clerics use SMS messages to alert the faithful to attend services, thus fulfilling the obligation to inform them of when prayer is, while accommodating their Jewish and Christian neighbors by allowing them to sleep, and eliminating the complaints about noise.

Read full article.

Divorce By SMS in Tajikistan

Tajikistani men can now divorce their wives via text message, as technology makes its way even into such personal issues as ending a marriage, reports Mobiledia.

If a woman in Tajikistan receives an SMS reading "Taloq, taloq, taloq," she's reportedly on her own, since according to Muslim ritual men can dump their wives by repeating this word for "divorce" three times.

The tradition still holds even over the phone, though clerics are divided on whether texting is too impersonal a way to say goodbye.

Read full article.

Related: Links to articles related to divorce by SMS

Man divorces wife by SMS

Amazing, this is still going on. According to Emirates 24/7, a Saudi court decided to separate a national couple after the husband sent a SMS to his wife mobile phone telling her that she is divorced.

The husband told the judge he sent the message after an argument with his wife but that he did not mean to divorce her,” the Gulf Kingdom reported on Saturday.

“But the judge considered the SMS as a real divorce under Islam and decided to support the wife’s plea for divorce.”

Click here for related links to divorce pronounced by SMS.

Italians can text the Pope

Roman Catholics can send now text messages of support to Pope Benedict XVI, Italian Rai television' said Saturday, as the Church faces an international paedophile scandal. The AFP reports.

All messages sent to the special number -- +39 335 18 63 091 -- will be passed along to the pope by the end of May, the broadcaster said. They will be shown from Sunday during the television show "In His Image".

Read full article.

Related articles on how the Pope uses cell phones to connect with catholics around the world.

UK Vicar Blesses mobile phones and laptops

Rev. Canon David Parrott of England's St. Lawrence Jewry church, which dates back to the 17th century, bestowed a blessing upon a collection of laptops and smartphones. Switched reports.

Parrott, who actually welcomes gadgets during services (as long as the mobiles are on "vibrate"), said that technology is "our daily working tool, and it's a technology we should bless."

Related: - Japanese Shrine Blesses our Gadgets

India. SMS campaign to raise awareness against foeticide

According to the Times of India, citizens are using text messages to generate awareness on the issue of female foeticide.

Some of the SMSes sent out:

"Vijaydashmi is the celebration of victory of good over bad. People must pledge to wipe out social evils like female foeticide and drugs."

"To gain liberation, to win Rama's grace, it is not enough to repeat his name. We have to practice his principle and liberate our society from evils like female foeticide."

Fatwa Issued Answering Cell Phone during Aayat

A Muslim organization has issued a fatwa over using verses from the Koran as ringtones, saying that answering the call while the aayat (verses from the Koran) is going on is a sin. It argues that people answer calls midway through the aayat, leave the verse incomplete. TechTree reports via Channel 4.

The panel of clerics in Kanpur India, also said that taking a cellphone to the toilet as it rings is a sin because aayat cannot be heard in a toilet. They also condemned the habit that people have of keeping cell phones on vibration mode while attending prayer services.

A fatwa in the Islamic faith is a religious opinion on Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar.

Other cell phone related Fatwas:

-- A Fatwa Against Ringtones - An imam at a Mosque in Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa against mobile phones after one rang during prayers on Saturday, playing Arabic pop music.

-- Fatwa: No pictures of the bride by SMS - Cheikh Abd Al-Muhsin Al-’Obikan, a member of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council and advisor to the Ministry of Justice, has issued a fatwa forbidding a fiancé to look at pictures of his fiancée uploaded online by SMS, for fear that others could see her before their marriage.

-- Fatwa Council declares SMS contests based on chance «haram» (unlawful) - The National Fatwa Council's declaration today that SMS-based contests containing elements of chance were haram (unlawful for Muslims)

Photo from flickr.

Shariah court approves SMS divorce

According to Arab News, a Shariah court in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has approved the divorce of a young Saudi woman in her 20s whose husband sent her an SMS text from Iraq saying he had divorced her.

The husband, who is in Iraq to participate in what he described as “jihad,” also telephoned two of his friends who witnessed his marriage and told them that he had divorced his wife.

... The judge approved the divorce and told the woman that she did not have to go through the iddah (the post-divorce waiting period stipulated by the Shariah) as the marriage was not consummated.

Click here for related links to divorce pronounced by SMS.

Dutch leave messages on God phone

In art exhibition opening in the Netherlands will allow people to call a telephone number designated for God - but they will have to leave a message, according to the BBC.

Dubbed God's Hotline, it aims to focus attention on changes to the ways Dutch people perceive religion.

Dutch artist Johan van der Dong chose a mobile phone number to show that God was available anywhere and anytime, Radio Netherlands reported.

Critics say the project mocks those with religious beliefs.

Forming part of an art installation in the town of Groningen, the voicemail message says: "This is the voice of God, I am not able to speak to you at the moment, but please leave a message."

Although the hotline is officially launched on Saturday, the phone number has been active for the past week, with 1,000 messages left on the answerphone.

But the messages are to remain confidential and will not form part of the art project.

Van der Dong told Radio Netherlands: "I'm not a pastor, I'm an artist and I won't listen to the messages.

"It's a secret between the Lord and the people who are calling."

Give up SMS for lent: Bishop

According to News24, the bishop of Modena in northern Italy told Catholic youth to give up a popular practice during the holy season of Lent: no text messaging on their mobile phones on Fridays.

No SMS will allow young people to "detox from the virtual world and get back in touch with themselves," Monsignor Benito Cocchi said, according to the newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday.

Italy ranks second in Europe after Britain for the number of text messages - 50 per month on average - by users of the "telefonino", Italian for mobile phone, the newspaper said.

St. Louis to announce new archbishop via text message

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is claiming the first use of text-messaging technology to share news of the naming of a new archbishop.

After a new archbishop for St. Louis is announced in Rome — typically 5 a.m. St. Louis time — the archdiocese will send a text message about the new appointee to anyone who has registered on its Web site.

[via Fox4kc]

Divorce by text messaging and e-mail on the rise among Muslim men

A study on "Marriage and divorce amongst Muslim women in India", undertaken by Sahiba Hussain, highlights that more and more men are divorcing via SMS and e-mail. adnkronos Interntional reports.

Where women do not have access to mobile phones or computers, men use landline phones to pronounce the divorce declaration. "From 15 divorces that we looked at in 2008, eight were pronounced via SMS, e-mail and over the phone," said Husssain.

The phenomenon is taking place despite a decree by the All-India Muslim Women Personal Law Board’s which forbids men from divorcing by electronic means.

Click here for related links to divorce pronounced by SMS.

Malaysian man sues over SMS break-up

A Malaysian man is suing his ex-fiancee in an Islamic court after her father broke off their engagement via mobile phone text messages, reports ABC News.

Muhammad Salleh Muhamad Yusuf, a 46-year-old graphic designer, is demanding more than 70,000 ringgit ($28,114) from 28-year-old Nur Diana Ahmad Zubir to cover the cost of cancelled wedding preparations.

The pair had planned to marry on January 17, but Nur Diana's father last month sent two text messages to the would-be groom to end the relationship, Muhammad Salleh's lawyer said according to the official news agency Bernama.

Related links to articles on divorce by SMS

Voice-to-Text Sermons

An Anglican Parish Church has joined with voice-to-text company SpinVox to change the way they reach their community: by delivering sermons directly to parishioners’ email inboxes, live. Trendhunter reports.

The world’s first voice-to-text Sunday service will take place Sunday November, 30th the first Advent. It will be given by the Reverend John Kronenberg, Vicar of Hinchley Wood, Esher, Surrey, at St Christopher’s Church.

As he delivers his sermon to the congregation seated in the Church, his words will be automatically converted by SpinVox and sent directly to subscribers’ inboxes, in a matter of moments. 100 members of St Christopher’s church will receive the sermon this Sunday.

Vatican Warns That Mobile Phones Threaten the Soul

The Vatican has warned that mobile phones are bad for your soul. Cellular News reports.

The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi warned in a weekly address that modern life is not leaving time for people to cultivate their spiritual dimension. Without a spiritual life "you will lose your soul" he said on the weekly Vatican TV program, Octavia Dies.

... In the age of the cell phone and the internet it is probably more difficult than before to protect silence and to nourish the interior dimension of life,” he observed. “It is difficult but necessary.

Mobile Muslim

Mobile Muslim (also known as ‘Hidayah which means divine guidance in Arabic) is a new phone launched in Indonesia designed completey around the Koran.

It sounds the "azan" call to prayer five times a day as well as the bang of the traditional bedug drum used at sunset to signal the end of the fast.

It also wakes Muslims up with religious songs before the dawn prayers so they can eat a final meal.

Since it's launch in August, Mobile Musllim has sold 100'000 units.

[via mobuzz.tv]

Links to other articles related to Islamic cell phones.

Pope's SMS Rallies Thousands Of Young Catholics

Pope Benedict texted thousands of young pilgrims in Australia on Tuesday, urging them to renew their faith.

"Young friend, God and his people expect much from u because u have within you the Fathers supreme gift: the Spirit of Jesus - BXVI," read the first of the Pope's daily text messages which will be sent out during World Youth Day in Sydney.

[via Reuters]

Pope goes digital to better connect with Youth

I4U reports that Pope Benedict will text message thousands of young Catholics on their mobile phones during World Youth Day in Sydney in July.

The Pope will text daily messages of inspiration and hope during the six-day Sydney event while digital prayer walls will be erected at event sites and the church will set up a Catholic social networking Web site akin to a Catholic Facebook.

The Catholic Church said it decided to use technology to connect to the estimated 225,000 young Catholics expected to attend the World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations that start on July 15.

Telstra said it plans to connect 8,000 volunteers, 2,000 clergy, 3,000 media and an anticipated 225,000 pilgrims to more than 700 locations around Sydney."

Previously: - World Youth Day - Pope reaches pilgrims by SMS

Pope Benedict XVI provides moral support via SMS during Lent

Pope Benedict XVI is providing moral support to Austrian Catholics during Lent with an encouraging SMS on their mobile phones.

Faithful who sign up for the new SMS service, launched Wednesday by the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, will receive daily quotes from the Church leader during the 40 days of Lent to help them survive the traditional fasting period leading up to Easter.

The quotes, in German, range from the inspirational -- "The further development and dignity of a society depends on those people who do more than their duty" -- to the more obscure: "Resignation in the face of truth is, I am convinced, at the core of the crisis in the West and in Europe."

[via AFP]

Israel phone company launches porn-free service

Bezeq Israel Telecom, the country's dominant phone company, on Sunday launched a service that would block calls to porn and other "improper" destinations in a bid to attract ultra-Orthodox customers, News.com reports.

"Avi Gabbay, Bezeq's chief executive officer, said at a news conference the company had invested $500,000 on the new "Kosher phone line" service, which initially will be free and has been approved by Israel's leading rabbis.

He noted that although the main market will be the ultra-Orthodox--who typically live in their own communities and refrain from many secular activities--the service will be open to all.

Israel's mobile phone operators already offer similar services."

More on Kosher phones.

Egypt to Rule on Phone-Message Divorce

Islamic law can make the act of divorce stunningly simple for men, even if the ensuing financial settlements often are not. A husband has only to declare to his wife, "Inti talaq" -- "You are divorced" -- three times, and mean it, to end their marriage. [via The Washington Post]

"But technology has introduced a complication that Egyptian religious authorities are now debating in the case of the 25-year-old Cairene, an engineer and an observant Muslim: How should Islamic laws that began to take shape in the 6th century apply to 21st-century text messages?

The subject of divorce by SMS has been highly debated across the Muslim world and some Islamic countries like Malaysia have banned the practice."

Until Egyptian courts and religious scholars decide the fate of the woman's marriage, she lives apart from the officer with their 4-year-old son, but still wears her wedding ring. She asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy, because such cases are so rare in Egypt. "

Egyptian woman in legal test of SMS divorce

An Egyptian woman is seeking clarification from a court on whether her husband's declaration of divorce by text message is legally valid, a state-run newpsaper reported on Thursday. The AFP reports.

"After missing a call from her husband on her mobile phone, Iqbal Abul Nasr received a text message from him saying "I divorce you because you didn't answer your husband," Al-Akhbar said.

It was the third time Abul Nasr, an engineer from Cairo, received a divorce text message from her husband, prompting her to seek a legal decision from the a family court on the status of her marriage.

If the court declares the couple divorced, it would be the first reported case of divorce by SMS in Egypt.

The subject of divorce by SMS has been highly debated across the Muslim world and some Islamic countries like Malaysia have banned the practice."