Question: There’s a game where you can travel and do missions in cartoon words (Mickey mouse, mulan etc). But unfortunately in the beginning you should do a tutorial in the cartoon world of Hercules in Olympus, and since I know that it’s not okay to play video games that promotes shirk I was wondering if playing this part just to skip to what’s after the tutorial is alright? (knowing that in the tutorial you\’re just fighting monsters with the cartoon Hercules but nothing religious), the game is basically an imaginary one in another universe where there’s cartoon worlds linked between them and that you should save them from darkness.

Answer: As the principles of playing games is concerned in Islam whether it is electronic or cartoon they must be free from Islamic violations to be permissible, such as not distracting one from the remembrance of Allah and the Islamic obligations; they should also not include what undermines true belief (kufr or shirk). Moreover, they should not include any gambling, music, or pictures of naked (half naked) women, games that corrupt morals such as teaching about a world of illusions and impossible things, such as coming back from the dead, super natural powers that do not really exist, images of space aliens and so on. Furthermore, that they should not lead to enmity and hatred between those who play with them as rivals. And these are not confined to the above.

As per your statement, if it does not contain any of the above mentioned and religious violations then it should be permissible. However, do remember that playing excessive amount of game will consume your valuable time and may damage your eyesight and nervous system and keep you away from remembrance of Allah swt which is against the principles of Islam. Therefore, one should avoid playing excessive games and entertainments much as possible.

Allah knows the best.