A Muslim cleric just issued a fatwa against Ramez Galal's prank show

An Egyptian cleric issued a fatwa on Tuesday, pronouncing that Ramadan prank shows including MBC's Ramez Underground, are unlawful under Islamic law, The New Arab reported. 

"Islamic law does not permit people to do anything that would scare another person," Member of the al-Azhar University's Alumni Union, Sheikh Sayyed Salman, said.  

"These programs harm their guests, who could even lose their lives if they suffer from certain medical conditions," he added.  

The cleric also went on to say that the programs "provoke the victims of the pranks to take part in 'immoral activity' such as swearing and violence." 

While the fatwa pronounces that such shows are "forbidden," it does not constitute an official ban of the programs. 

Ramez Underground  has been receiving intense backlash in recent weeks, with people and lawmakers calling for it to be banned. 

Egyptian lawyer and Chairman of Egypt's Zamalek, Mortada Mansour even called on its presenter, Ramez Galal to either be sent in for psychiatric evaluation or to be arrested and tried for "attempted murder." 

This year, the divisive show's guests are tricked into believing that they are part of a chat show hosted by Lebanese presenter Neshan Der Haroutiounian. 

They arrive for the interview in an Abu Dhabi desert area and on their way back their vehicle quickly begins to sink into quicksand and things escalate from there.

The show's previous seasons also sparked controversy, but still emerged as rating hits. 

In recent years, the commercial success of Ramez Galal's prank shows spurred other Television producers to create their own versions of it. 

Last year, an Egyptian prank show made headlines for tricking its guests into believing that they had been kidnapped by the so called Islamic State (IS).

Another, titled Urgent Landing, chartered an entire plane to celebrities who were tricked into believing that the planes engines were failing.