KUALA LUMPUR, April 24 — An imam who had to redo the Aidilfitri prayer after leading a congregation in Jerantut, Pahang on Saturday has explained why he made the decision to do so after the matter went viral on social media.

Taking to his TikTok account, Mohd Fikir Hamzah from the Tengku Mahkota Abdullah Mosque there said he did so after consulting his congregation — since he had missed parts of the prayer ritual for Aidilfitri prayer.

“After giving salam, I talked to the first row of the congregation and each gave their own opinions,” he said, referring to the religious salutations wishing peace performed at the end of prayers.

According to him, he had missed reciting the takbir — the recital exalting the greatness of God — five times during the second rakaat, or the stage of the prayer.

Usually, the takbir is only exclaimed once in that stage during daily prayers.

He said when the first row could not agree on whether to complete the Aidilfitri prayer with the post-prayer sermon or to perform it again, he decided to talk to the rest of the congregation.

“I made an announcement to tell everyone I made a mistake, and asked for their opinions. The majority of them said to perform it again and I decided to do so,” he added.

Mohd Fikri said that based on religious rulings, any of the two prayers — the original or the redo — would have been considered as valid.

He also thanked those who could recognise his mistake rather than making it a big issue.

“To those with not-so-good comments, I have forgiven them. I count it as ‘kosong-kosong’, no problem,” he said, using the Malay slang meaning “no more debts”. - malaymail