Jakim: No need for azan guideline

Malaysian Islamic Development Department director-general Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz sees no need for a guideline on the azan (call to prayer) to be issued to mosques and suraus across the nation.

This is in view of the fact that Islam is the official religion of the country, he told Malaysiakini in an email message via his public relations officer, Asiah Alkharib Shah.

He was responding to calls from several quarters for a guideline to be issued because of the confusion over its practice in Malaysia's multi-religious landscape.

Proponents of the guideline contend that such a ruling would help avert problems.

Kelantan mufti Mohd Shukri Mohamad has suggested that the guidelines could include how loud the azan should be, depending on the location and proximity of the various mosques.

Complainant apologises

The azan issue became controversial after a resident complained to the Prime Minister's Office, alleging that the call to prayer at the Al Ikhlasiah Mosque near his house in Pantai Dalam Kuala Lumpur, was too loud. He requested that the volume be reduced.

His complaint sparked a ruckus when several NGOs gathered at the mosque and burned an effigy representing the complainant, to express their displeasure at his request.

The complainant, lawyer Ng Kian Nam, who has since apologised over the matter, said he was not able to differentiate between the azan and morning sermons.

It was the volume of the morning sermons that he wanted reduced, not the azan, he claimed.

'No need to entertain complaints'

Meanwhile, after being alerted by a reader, checks by Malaysiakini at the National Fatwa Council website has found that there is already a fatwa on the matter of the volume level of azan recitations using public address systems.

According to the fatwa, the council had pondered the matter on April 13, 1982 and found that the level of azan via loudspeakers at mosques, suraus and other Muslim house of worship as yet "posed no risk of disturbance to non-Muslims."

"As such, complaints of non-Muslims on the matter cannot be entertained," concluded the fatwa.