Cell Phone Fatwa

Recently an Imam at a mosque in Saudi Arabia was giving a Taraweeh prayer (extra prayers given by Sunnis at night in the Islamic month of Ramadan) when a cell phone playing an Arabic pop music ring tone went off. The Imam turned to the crowd and issued a Fatwa. A Fatwa is a legal pronouncement in Islam made by a Mufti, a scholar capable of issuing judgements on Sharia (islamic law). His Fatwa declared that the next time a member of the congregation disrupted the ceremonies with a cell phone, they would be stricken from the mosque indefinitely.

I found this amusing. I think that teachers at Hamline University should declare their own Fatwa on cell phones in the class rooms and libraries. I can't tell you how many times a lecture or my study time has been interrupted by one of those incessant little things.
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