After a fierce winter storm blanketed much of the Middle East - including northern Saudi Arabia - with snow recently, a prominent Saudi cleric issued a ruling banning people from making snowmen, calling them un-Islamic

Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid said "it is not permitted to make a statue out of snow, even by way of play and fun" because creating an image of a human being is sinful. "God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings, and so on," the cleric said.