CORONAVIRUS | Amid increased vigilance over the Covid-19 outbreak, Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin today reveals that the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has agreed to propose for all mosques to be closed for 10 days.
Asri (above) in an Instagram post said Jakim, based on views from the Health Ministry, had agreed to propose for all activities in mosques to be temporarily halted, including Friday prayers and the congregational prayers held five times a day.
"Any further extension to the closure or reopening (of mosques after 10 days) will be updated based on briefings by the Health Ministry.
"An official announcement will be made later," said Asri who last Friday announced that Friday prayers for the week were to be replaced with Zohor prayers at home after the Health Ministry had advised against holding mass gatherings.
Asri's revelation was made after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri's statement last night that said viewpoints of Islamic jurisprudence in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic will be presented to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah and state rulers for consent for further action.
Zulkifli, who did not reveal details of the discussions, said the viewpoints were gathered during the national council for Islamic affairs fatwa committee meeting yesterday as decreed by the Agong.
The meeting chaired by the fatwa committee chairperson Zahidi Wan Teh was attended by all state muftis and representatives, state Islamic religious department directors as well as state Islamic religious council representatives.
In a separate Facebook post, Asri meanwhile defended his stand on mosque closures from critics who questioned why a similar call was not made to close night clubs and entertainment joints.
Describing the logic as shallow and made by individuals with low intelligence, Asri said: "As a Muslim, are you a night club visitor who must be told to not visit night clubs at this time?"
"If there is no virus, are you a frequent visitor to night clubs?
"Do you want an order that says 'don't visit night clubs now'? So that means, after this it's okay?... (This is) shallow."
Asri further explained that this was unlike the call for Muslims to not visit the mosque which required a consensus view from Islamic authorities.
"We may be honest in our views but we need to think first... We may want to show off our intelligence but not to the extent that we actually look highly unintelligible," he said. - Mkini
What took you so long....???
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