Egyptians react to new app bringing dead to life
A new application that allows the animation of pictures of the deceased caused controversy among religious institutions in Egypt.
Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta issued a statement March 13 commenting on the newly launched mobile application My Heritage, which animates photos of deceased persons.
“The Islamic Sharia has allowed the use of entertainment and recreation means since they are necessary for destressing and relief of tension, which is necessary for the people's well-being, provided that such means do not entail sarcasm or bad manners,” the statement said.
“There was no objection, in terms of Sharia, to using modern programs to animate images, provided that this is not done in such a way that is disrespectful or ill-mannered in relation to the dead or causing harm to others. Users must not provide edited photos but the original ones,” the statement added.
My Heritage, an Israeli genealogy and DNA testing company, recently launched a new feature based on deep learning technology on its mobile application and website enabling animation of still photos.
