Fortnite slammed as players can destroy building ‘which looks like Islamic holy site’ – World News
Islamic officials have called for a ban of the videogame Fortnite as players can destroy a location that resembles the Kaaba holy site in Mecca.
In an update to the game, online players are able to attack the building that looks similar to the Kaaba, one of Islam’s holiest sites located in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to move a level up.
Footage has gone viral of a scene where a character carrying a scythe walks around a complex looking like the Great Mosque of Mecca, complete with the Kaaba-like structure in the centre.
It has caused anger across the Muslim world.
(Image: Newsflash)
The footage has reportedly been around since 2019, but it appears to only recently have come to widespread attention.
Sandiaga Uno, Indonesia’s Tourism and Creative Economy minister, called for a ban of the popular videogame over claims that it is blasphemous.
He said “We face the Kaaba at least five times a day, wherever we are in the world, to perform the obligatory prayers or the sunnah (optional) prayers.
“I was told that in this game there was an icon that was considered to resemble Kaaba that must be destroyed to acquire new weapons and advance to the next level.
“This in my opinion is very much against the noble values, especially in terms of religion, including religious harmony, so this is a very sensitive matter.”
He has reportedly instructed his staff to review the content and ban it if necessary.
Similarly, in a TV interview, director of Al Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa in Egypt, Osama al-Hadidy, also felt it was right to ban Fortnite.
(Image: Newsflash)
He claimed that it encourages “violence or containing false ideas which distort faith or show contempt for religious beliefs”.
Following the controversy, the developers of Fortnite clarified that a screenshot of a character standing in front of a Kaaba-like structure was the result of modifications in the game’s “creative mode” which allows users to design their own “island” and denied any attempt to intentionally depict the holy site.
