It was recently announced by Muslim clerics who were debating the exploding popularity of Facebook in Indonesia that the networking site could be used by the followers to connect with friends or for work - but not to gossip or flirt.

The decision came after a two-day meeting of clerics in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Following the complaints about Facebook and other sites received by clerics, including concerns that these social networking websites encourage illicit sex, nearly 700 clerics, or imams, agreed to draft up guidelines on surfing the web.

Nabil Haroen, a spokesman for the organizers said, "They decided Facebook is haram (or forbidden) if it is used for gossiping and spreading lies and users also could not ask overtly intimate questions or in anyway encourage vulgar behaviour."

However, it was also noticed by the clerics that there were many advantages of Facebook and similar sites too, as they encouraged new forms of communication, from mobile phone text messaging to video conferencing.

So, keeping in mind the banes and the boons of the networking site, the clerics arrived on the above mentioned decision.

(via TopNews Singapore. Contributed by Senthil Kumar)