It is "forbidden" to pray for Steve Jobs' (in pic) soul, a prominent Saudi cleric has decreed. Sa'd Bin Al-Shathari, a Saudi authority on Islam, said God-fearing Muslims better keep the late Apple founder out of their prayers because he died an "infidel."


Not allowed: Al-Shathari, the Muslim cleric said it was forbidden to
pray for Steve Jobs' soul. File pic

"To pray for Allah to have mercy upon him or place him in Paradiseu00a0-- that is forbidden," he told Kuwait's Al-Resala TV, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Al-Shathari, however, said it was alright to feel saddened by Jobs' death.

He was responding to a raging Twitter and Facebook debate on whether Muslims can feel sad 'over the death of an infidel' and ask 'for Allah's mercy for an infidel' sparked by Jobs' death. Jobs, a Zen Buddhist, died on October 5 at the age of 56 .