Metaverse

Salam. Hope you’re doing well. I have been pondering over the idea of metaverse lately. I was wondering if you could comment on its permissibility in Islam? Even if we end up doing something nice, for instance provision of healthcare, it would still involve the avatars and images of human beings. What’s your take on this? [Please don’t post this part of the question online: My concern is that sometimes Muslims take too much time in embracing the new concepts and technology. And sometimes it is so late that others control the major chunk of the inventions and technology and make their own rules and policies around it. For instance, in the banking sector we are still unable to widely implement Islamic finance and the sector is widely controlled by non-Muslims. Same goes for the major social media platforms. Printing press remained banned in the Muslim world for years, loudspeakers were also banned at some point etc. My point is, why not embrace metaverse and use it as a medium to spread khayr, for instance by leading some useful industry like healthcare through telemedicine. Why not be the first one’s to enter it so that we influence the decisions in metaverse that would affect the wider humanity? Am I thinking in the right direction or am I tapping into the grey area that Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.W.) asked us to stay away from, according to the hadith? In your knowledge, what’s the best way to move forward in this case?]