“Sinful practice to take selfies with deities, religious artefacts,” Malaysian Muslim travellers warned

 

APART from availability of halal food and prayer facilities, Malaysian Muslim tourists now have something extra to worry about.

Did the snapshot at the tourist attraction featuring religious deities and artefacts go against religious edicts?

That would be the assertion of an article in the Waktu Solat Malaysia website which is aptly entitled “It’s Forbidden to Snap Photos with Idols, Especially Those That are Worshipped; Can Incur the wrath of Allah and Committing Evil Deed”.

Editor’s Note: The official portal for prayer times in Malaysia is the e-Solat website managed by JAKIM (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia).

While there is an application named “Waktu Solat Malaysia” that leverages data from JAKIM, the Waktu Solat Malaysia website is not listed as the official JAKIM domain.

It was contended that while such photo-taking was common and trendy, it must not be forgotten that “Islam is a religion that strongly upholds the purity of faith, hence simple actions such as standing next to or using idols as the background for photos can carry major legal implications”.

It was further pointed out that “Muslim tourists are often seen taking pictures with statues of pharaohs or idols in temples while scholars have given quite clear warnings about the prohibition of glorifying symbols and entities worshipped other than Allah”.

According to a statement from independent preacher Salman Maskuri a.k.a. PU Salman from the first season of the Islamic reality television programme Pencetus Ummah (PU), scholars have forbidden the act of taking pictures with statues, especially those involving objects of worship.

It was added that although the existence of non-Muslim places of worship is permitted in the context of a pluralistic country, Muslims are strictly prohibited from frequenting such places for personal photography opportunity.

The piece was shared on Waktu Solat Malaysia’s Facebook site with the post having generated 1.8K likes, 976 comments and 448 shares at time of writing. Opinions, however, were divided on this selfie-taking obsession.

One non-Muslim commenter snidely remarked that perhaps Malaysian Muslims should “never be allowed to visit countries with other beliefs and religions”.

It was also argued that such picture taking was to appreciate the beauty, not partake in any sort of religious festival.

“Cut the bullshit” was the plea from one irritated liberal-minded Muslim who argued that by this logic, one should not be taking photos with the Great Pyramids of Egypt in the background.

Needless to say, those views got plenty of pushback from Muslims. It was curtly pointed out the advice was aimed at Muslim tourists, hence non-Muslims need not be busybodies.

One commenter even listed popular tourist attractions around the world, outlining which were permissible as selfie backdrops and those which were not.

The former category included Hindu deities inside temples in India as well as the statues of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary inside the Vatican.

Many popular tourist destinations that featured statues of Buddha such as Wat Pho Reclining Buddha in Thailand and Great Nara Buddha statue in Japan were off limits for photography.

The latter category included popular tourist spots such as the Statue of Liberty in the US and the Merlion statue in Singapore.

Is the above advice pertinent and useful to Muslims or is it placing unnecessary restrictions on one of the simple joys of travel – immortalising a moment in a selfie?

Whatever one’s views on the subject, some commenters dropped a timely reminder for the need for tolerance and mutual respect. 

 - Focus Malaysia