Is it permissible to buy, play, and sell Pokémon cards?

Published as Pokémon cards

· 21 Safar 1444 AH1 min readEnglish

Question

Is it permissible to buy, play, and sell Pokémon cards?

Answer

Besides Pokémon being a game of violence, it also consists of Shirk. Amongst the Pokémon characters, the most powerful is “Arceus”. It is recorded on the internet that, Arceus is, without a doubt, the most powerful legendary Pokémon. This normal type of Mythical Pokemon is the creator of the universe and thus, the closest that the Pokémon world has to a god. When it hatched from its egg, Arceus brought with it time, space, and anti-matter in the form of the creation “Trio”. This is a clear proof of Kufr and Shirk.

A large number of games, cartoons, comics etc. consists of either Kufr or, it has some hidden agenda behind it. We simple-minded Muslims, innocently purchase these forms of entertainment for our children without us even realizing the harms behind it. The enemies are making every effort to rob us and our progenies of our Imaan and consequently use every possible means to achieve this. The Hadith of Rasulullah Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam states, “Soon there will be Fitnahs like a portion of the dark night, a man will be a believer in the morning and a Kaafir in the evening, and he will be a believer in the evening and a Kaafir in the morning, he will sell his Deen for some commodity of the world.” [Re: Saheeh Ibn Hibbaan]

In conclusion, we, as Muslims, shouldn’t be purchasing, selling, nor permitting our children to play with Pokémon cards. Those that have purchased these cards should destroy them immediately and repent for their errors.

Answered by
Mufti Mohammed Desai
Questions about this ruling, answered only from the archive with sources.

Where scholars differ, it’s safer to take the more cautious view.

Fatawa SA is an independent, read-only index of fatawa already published by Darul Ifta Ibn Masood. It is not a fatwa service. For your own situation, please ask a Mufti. Report an issue

For corrections or mistakes, please email us at fatawasa786@gmail.com.