Loudspeaker ban at Penang mosques shelved

Mosque committees given discretion to use loudspeakers when necessary, says Mufti.

GEORGE TOWN: The ban on outdoor loudspeakers in Penang mosques will not take off as planned, state Mufti Dr Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor said yesterday.

Instead, he said mosque committees could opt to restrict the use of the loudspeakers to only occasions when it was absolutely necessary.

“There were a lot of objections when we wanted to gazette the ban on the use of loudspeakers.

“So, we have put this fatwa (decree) on hold,” he said without elaborating further.

Wan Salim had announced last year that the ban applied to zikir, sermons, lectures, Hajj classes and recordings of the Quran.

However, his announcement was met with a lot of opposition, with certain quarters claiming the ban was for all calls for azan (prayers).

Wan Salim found himself in the centre of controversy after a letter dated last year from his office stated that a ban on all loudspeakers outside mosques with the exception for azan and iqamah, would be gazetted soon.

The September 1 letter by the Penang Mufti’s Office stated the nod had been given by the state Fatwa Committee.

In the same letter, the committee had also decided to prohibit the reading of the Quran before subuh (pre-dawn) prayers using external loudspeakers, following some ten complaints received by the religious authorities here between January 2012 to May 2015.

Some of the complaints included those against recordings of Quran recitals and ceramah (talks) before the regular calls for prayers.