KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The congregrants of Masjid Al-Khairiyah, Taman Seri Gombak, in Kuala Lumpur need to replace their fast yesterday as they broke it early due to the mosque mistakenly playing the “azan”, or call to prayer, three minutes earlier.

In a statement, the mosque’s “nazir” or administrator Wan Nawawi Wan Dagang said that the error occurred due to a technical problem on the digital display of the call to prayer time at the mosque.

“Congregants who rely solely on the Maghrib call to prayer from Al-Khairiyah Mosque to break their fast, please know that your fast is void on that day and needs to be replaced,” he said in a statement.

Muslims fast between the prayer times of “fajr” at dawn, to “maghrib” at dusk.

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While most Muslims nowadays rely on a fixed schedule of times to break their fast, some still rely on the “azan” to know when “maghrib” has come.

Wan Nawawi also mentioned that according to the views of the majority of scholars among the Hanafi, Maliki and Syafie schools of jurisprudence, as well as many from the Hanbali school, the fasting yesterday was void and must be replaced.

He quoted Islamic jurisprudence explainer by the Federal Territory Mufti’s Office as saying that the congregants who relied on the mosque’s “azan” to break their fast will need to replace their fasting.

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“Once again we apologise and God willing, such a thing will not happen again,” he said.

*Note: A previous edition of the story contained an error which has since been corrected.