.jpg "Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad leads a prayer session at the Tuanku Mizan Mosque in Putrajaya March 12, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Shafwan Zaidon")
PUTRAJAYA, March 12 — Putrajaya said today that there is currently no need yet to restrict Friday prayers at mosques for Muslims, even as it lists several suggestions to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak that has been declared a pandemic.
Despite that, minister in charge of religious affairs Datuk Seri Zukifli Mohamad this policy may be reviewed if health authorities decide that the coronavirus situation in the country can no longer be contained.
“So for now, the original ruling [for Friday prayers] is compulsory, just a few of our suggestions for situations like this are can we shorten the sermons if possible, and for the congregation to take their ablutions at home, and if possible for the mosques to provide hand sanitisers at the entrance.
“Any congregation [including Friday prayers] should not be done in affected places. If the mosque is affected and in need of quarantine, people should go elsewhere,” he said in his first press conference after being sworn in as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
He was referring to a mosque in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, where authorities are tracking around 5,000 citizens across the country believed to have been potentially exposed to the coronavirus at a religious event there.
The contact tracing was initiated after neighbouring Brunei reported its first case of coronavirus infection yesterday, a 53-year-old man who had attended the same event at a mosque between February 28 and March 1.
JPM sedang menyiapkan kertas kerja berkaitan #COVID19 bagi solat Jumaat & aktiviti keagamaan. Perbincangan bersama telah diadakan pd minggu lepas untuk kesiapsiagaan menbendung penularan COVID-19. Kertas kerja itu termasuk panduan bersalaman, kenduri kahwin dan pengurusan jenazah pic.twitter.com/BJnmBty3dY
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) March 12, 2020
Zulkifli also advised adherents who are ill to skip the Friday prayers, echoing a similar call by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore in January.
Under Islamic laws, attending Friday prayers is compulsory for Muslim men, with some exceptions.
The former Federal Territory mufti also said his ministry is currently finalising five items to be taken to the national fatwa council in regards to Covid-19, which also include the conduct of Muslims in Friday prayers, greetings, weddings, funerals, and other suggestions regarding the pandemic.
“We have even discussed the matter with the Ministry of Health when the director-general came to visit me a couple of days ago,” he said, referring to Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
“I hope you will give us two days for us to finalise and have specific discussion on it before we announce it publicly.”
If the outbreak is no longer contained in Malaysia, he said restrictions will be announced, but only following a decision by the Ministry of Health on other public gatherings and events.
Today, Zulkifli led the hajat prayers after meeting with Islamic religious agencies leaders and members at the Tuanku Mizan Mosque in Putrajaya, before walking to clock in at his office in Putrajaya Islamic Complex some 200 metres away.
He was joined by his deputy, Ahmad Marzuk Shaari and Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) Deputy Director-General (Policy) Hakimah Yusof.
