Dar al-Ifta prohibits ‘Blue Whale’ game

CAIRO –6 April 2018: Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta, the Sunni Islamic institute concerned with Fatwa (Islamic Law) issuance, has religiously forbidden playing the “Blue Whale” game, which pushes children to commit suicide.

This dangerous game has claimed the life of many teenagers around the world. The rules of the game require players to go through 50 dangerous and soul-destroying tasks over the course of 50 days. The tasks begin with self-harm, leading up to the final challenge, which is suicide by hanging or jumping off a high building.

In its new fatwa, Dar al-Ifta clarified the reasons for banning this deadly game, mentioning that the player commitsillegalactions.

“The users are asked to cut themselves with a sharp weapon such as a needle or a knife, and this act is religiously forbidden. The preservation of a person’s life is one of the most important purposes in Islam,” the fatwa read.

It has been reported that the game has led to the death of an Egyptian teenager. Former Egyptian MP Hamdy al-Fakharany’s daughter– Yasmeen–posted on her Facebook account that the “Blue Whale” claimed the life of her brother.

The entry point to the game has been the social networking site VKontakte, a Russian-based online social media and networking service that is available in several languages. Someone creates small groups specifically to organize players for the game.

Within the groups, the group administrator assigns daily tasks to members and gives them strict instructions on how to play the game. One of those instructions is that participants can't discuss the game outside of the game itself. The horrific tasks include self-harm, watching horror movies and waking up at unusual hours, but these gradually becomemore extreme.

In Russia, two teens committed suicide after they played the game. The game’s founder, 22-year-old Philipp Budeikin, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison over charges of “inciting children to commit suicide” in July 2017, Moscow Times reported.