No selfies with cats, says Saudi cleric

Speaking on a television broadcast, Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fazwan, gave the religious opinion when he was asked about "a new trend of taking pictures with cats" that "has been spreading among people who want to be like Westerners".

"What?! What do you mean pictures with cats?" al-Fawzan, a member of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars responded.

"Taking pictures is prohibited. The cats don't matter here... taking pictures is prohibited if not for a necessity. Not with cats, not with dogs, not with wolves, not with anything," the cleric continued.

While miserable moggies may rejoice for no longer having to force smiles for unsolicited photo opportunities, the pronouncement adds to a long list of strange religious rulings that have come out of the ultra-conservative Salafist kingdom.

Moo-oove out the way daisy, this is no longer allowed [AFP]

In the past, Saudi Arabia's grand mufti – the kingdom's highest ranking religious official – ruled that Pokemon cards were forbidden, citing the fact that the children's playing cards displayed crosses and stars of David that are indicative of religions other than Islam.

Recently, another Saudi cleric, Naser al-Omar, urged his followers on Twitter to refrain from using Snapchat filters for selfie pictures.

Omar said that the filters were "tampering with the image of the human face and the creation of God just to make people laugh."

Despite these rulings, the majority of Muslims around the world subscribe to beliefs and practices that run contrary to the strict and literalist Saudi understanding.

Because of this, the faith's adherents will almost certainly continue to pose with their cats and play Pokemon cards until the cows come home – perhaps only to take some more selfies when those proverbial cows do arrive.