"The development must be seen in a positive light, so as to allow Hajj and Umrah pilgrims to explore the locations of where they will perform the ritual during the pilgrimage by learning the precise location relative to the Kaaba," MUI Chairperson of the Fatwa division Asrorun Niam Sholeh noted in Jakarta on Friday.
The digitisation effort by introducing the Kaaba on the metaverse platform will benefit prospective Hajj and Umrah pilgrims to learn about locations and sacred areas that they will visit before the pilgrimage, he remarked.
"Pilgrims must know where the starting point of the Tawaf (circumambulation to the Kaaba) is, where are the Mustajab point, the corner of the Black Stone, and the Yemeni corner; (and for this,) the technology will allow them to learn more easily, as the locations will be visualised before their eyes," Sholeh remarked.
Although simulating the Kaaba and the circumambulation ritual on the metaverse platform would benefit prospective pilgrims to learn about the locations, it cannot replace the Hajj ritual, as requirements for the ritual can never be fulfilled in the metaverse platform, the chairperson of the Fatwa commission noted.
Sholeh said that Hajj and Umrah rituals must be performed only at the physical location, with the physical presence of pilgrims required.
They must also visit and perform Islamic rites at designated locations, and the Hajj pilgrimage can be performed only in Dzulhijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar, he added.
"We cannot perform the Hajj and Umrah ritual only through the virtual media, as it would not be valid," he stressed.
Earlier, the Saudi authority published the plan to develop a metaverse project called Virtual Black Stone Initiative that will allow Muslims throughout the world to experience the Kaaba and the Black Stone through virtual reality.
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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Suharto
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