KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — As Muslims across the nation prepare to celebrate Hari Raya Aidiladha tomorrow, local mosques and suraus has been busy preparing for the ‘Korban’ (sacrificial rites) set to the new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) imposed by the government.
National Mosque chief imam, Ustaz Ehsan Mohd Hosni, told Malay Mail the sacrificial rite there will be held in the vicinity of the mosque itself following guidelines given.
Only 20 people are allowed per sacrifice and a maximum of 10 sacrificial animals are allowed per day.
“We have 16 lambs and two cows for Korban this year.
“For the National Mosque, the Korban rites will be held for two days because the SOP states that only 10 sacrificial animals are allowed per day and we have 18.”
“So on Friday we will do eight and the remaining 10 we will continue on Saturday,” Ehsan said.
Ehsan explained that they would start the korban rites with three animals before the Friday prayers and continue with another five later after the prayers and the rest will be sacrificed on Saturday.
He added that this is the first time that they are doing Korban rites for two days.
Ehsan noted they have received approval from the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (JAWI), obtained the slaughtering permit from the Department of Veterinary Services and informed the District Health Office as well.
Around 90 people will be on duty for both days, comprising mostly of staff from the mosque, as well as volunteers from the Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (ABIM) and individuals selected by the mosque.
They will be divided into teams of five, with one responsible for the ceremonial slaughter, another to take care of the butchering and another in charge of weighing the meat to be distributed.
“As for lambs, we don’t need 20 people to handle it, five people should be more than enough,” he said, adding most of the volunteers might be needed more on Saturday instead of Friday.
For the National Mosque, the korban beef will be distributed to orphanages and ‘asnaf’ (eligible tithe recipients) living in People Housing Projects (PPR) around the area.
To prevent massive gatherings at the mosque, the National Mosque will only accept representatives from these recipients to collect the korban beef.
Talking about the challenges in implementing the SOP for Hari Raya Aidiladha, Ehsan said that it was not much of a challenge since they have been trained for situations under previous SOPs that were implemented earlier.
“We’re actually trained with all these SOPs since March apart from with guidelines implemented in our congregational prayers and Friday prayers.
“Social distancing, hand sanitising and face masks... all of these SOPs are used on a daily basis but needless to say, we still need to remind the participants,” he said.
Ehsan urged those performing their Aidiladha prayers at the National Mosque to come early as they need to go through SOPs and also because prayers will begin earlier compared to last year.
“The Aidiladha congregational prayers will begin as early as 8am.
“Because it is on a Friday, whereas we have to make preparations for the Friday congregational prayers as well.
“So, come early and follow the procedures for congregational prayers which includes wearing a face mask, bringing your own sejadah (praying mat) and identification card as well as take your wudhu (ablution) at home,” he said/
Chairman of Surau Al-Hakim in Shah Alam, Azlan Zakaria said that they had to do their Korban rites at a licenced slaughterhouse in Kuang as their surau is not suitable to hold korban rites according to the new SOP.
“We have about 35 volunteers that will handle the korban rites in Kuang, Gombak.
“For this year, Surau Al-Hakim will sacrifice nine cows and it will be done on the third day of Aidiladha which is on Sunday.”
He said all of the volunteers are members of the surau’s committee and all of them have taken courses on handling sacrificial rites and have been doing sacrificial rites at the surau on their own for over four years now.
Azlan said that they will start distributing after the Zohor prayers on Sunday and they will only accept representatives only, to prevent massive gatherings.
Among the recipients for Surau Al-Hakim korban beef includes asnafs, orphans, Rohingya’s refugees and Orang Asli settlements.
Besides the Korban rites, Azlan also expressed his concerns on the Aidiladha congregational prayers as there are still some who are taking the SOPs lightly.
“Before this, there were some who came to the surau without bringing their own sejadah, without a face mask and they would often come up with excuses every time.
“There’s no excuse for not following the SOP, the SOP is for the whole of Malaysia.”
“But alhamdulillah, people are starting to follow the SOP and plus, we also provide face masks at the Surau for those who have forgotten theirs for RM1,” Azlan said.
He also said that Surau Al-Hakim has been closely following the SOPs updates by the government and has been adhering to it since it was announced in June.
