KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Perkasa wants the National Fatwa Council to issue a special guideline on what Muslims can or cannot wear, after a consumer group claimed pure silk batik cloths were forbidden to followers of Islam as spelled out in their prophets’ teachings.

Irwan Fahmi Ideris, the group’s youth chief said there was currently “confusion” on the matter and urged the council to look into concerns raised yesterday by the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM).

“Right now, we don’t know what to do, what can we wear? We have to clear this matter up quick,” he told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Irwan said the council should discuss the issue with the state muftis and provide a full explanation.

“If you ask me, I think as long as a Muslim is covered properly according to the precepts of Islam, then it should not be an issue.

“But I am not a religious scholar, so to clear any confusion, Perkasa would like the fatwa council to step in and provide guidelines to what Muslim men and women can or cannot wear,” he said.

Yesterday, PPIM activist Sheikh Abd Kareem S. Khadaied warned that Islam’s hadiths strictly forbid Muslim men from wearing pure silk batik cloths, adding that doing so signalled the end of days for the creed’s followers.

Batik is a form of textile art often marketed as a national heritage in Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is also accepted as the dress code for official functions.

Sheikh Abd Kareem said the hadiths were silent on batik cloths that used silk mixed with other materials such as linen and cotton, and as saw them as permissible to Muslims.

He claimed that 90 per cent of batik worn by Muslim men here was made of pure silk, and criticised the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation -- which promoted the craft -- for not putting enough effort to research alternative materials.

The activist said he had raised the matter with the National Fatwa Council and the Malaysian Islamic Department (Jakim) but added that they have yet to respond.