KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — As the spotlight falls on silk batik cloths worn by Muslims, the Malaysian Handicraft Development Corporation advised against any regulation on the textile art, saying any attempt to do so may hurt the industry here.

The government agency, also known as Kraftangan Malaysia, said Muslim consumers should be able to decide for themselves whether or not to purchase any items, said to be forbidden in the teachings of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, including pure silk batik.

“I think it is up to the person himself on whether or not to purchase pure silk batik. There are also other people who buy this material; Muslim women, Chinese, Indians, its a booming industry,” Shahrudin Mohd Nor, Kraftangan Malaysia’s deputy director in charge of development told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“We are not batik makers or suppliers, all we do is help promote the materials made by them,” he said.

Yesterday, the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) warned that the wearing of pure silk batik cloths is not only forbidden among Muslim men but also signalled Islam’s apocalypse, a prophetic revelation on the end of days.

The consumer group said many Muslims here are unaware of this fact, which it said is enshrined in several hadiths, also known as the collection of words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad.

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 suggested a label to denote the silk content for batik cloth be introduced, so “people will know it is pure silk and therefore haram”.

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 despite having the funds to do so.

Shahrudin clarified that the agency has been actively looking into other materials besides silk for batik, and that Sheikh Abd Kareem may have got his facts wrong.

“We have been doing research... in fact we are having a exhibition on February 26 on new products,” he added.

The deputy director-general also said it was up to suppliers and manufacturers to properly label pure silk batik cloths.