Saudi Arabian cleric Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid is convinced making making human silhouettes from snow is sinful

Jan 13, 2015 14:16 GMT  ·  By

Saudi Arabia, which happens to be one of the warmest countries in the world, was not too long ago hit by a series of freak snowstorms. Not at all surprisingly, folks decided to have some fun playing in the snow and making snowmen.

The thing is, according to one Saudi Arabian cleric Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid, they really should not have done so. In fact, word has it that, having denounced snowmen as anti-Islamic, the cleric went as far as to ban people from building such snow silhouettes.

The Saudi Arabian cleric has a point, sort of

In a post on a religious website, Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid explains that Sunni Islam rules and regulations clearly say that people have no business creating images of human beings or animals. Hence, making snowmen and show animals can only be sinful.

“God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings and so on,” the Saudi Arabian cleric said when asked whether it was accepted for people to make snowmen.

“It is not permitted to make a statue out of snow, even by way of play and fun,”  Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid went on to teach people, as cited by Mirror. Otherwise put, it looks like this cleric is quite convinced that snowmen are anti-Islamic. Hence his decision to ban people from making them.

Some people agree with him, but many don't

The cleric's claim that snowmen and snow animals go against Sunni Islam principles sparked quite a controversy. Some folks were quick to agree with him, others simply dismissed his words, and probably just to spite him, they took photos of themselves standing next to the snowmen they had just built.

If you have some time to spare, do check out the photo gallery below to get a better idea of what snowmen look like in Saudi Arabia. Spoiler alert: they do resemble the ones that we are accustomed to, but if we're going to be honest here, we have to admit that they stand in a league of their own.

Snowmen made by people in Saudi Arabia are totally adorbs (6 Images)

Cleric insists snowmen are anti-Islamic
He claims God does not want people to make human figuresApparently, making snow animals is sinful as well
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