KANGAR: The Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) today announced the suspension of the Friday prayers, Tarawih prayers and other activities at mosques and surau statewide has been extended to May 31.
The announcement was issued by MAIPs following the Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Putra Jamalullail’s written decree to state Mufti associate professor Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin dated April 17.
The extension was made after observing the current scenario of the Covid-19 outbreak and various efforts implemented by the authorities to break the chain of the virus infection, MAIPs said in a statement.
“According to the decree of the Raja of Perlis, if the Covid-19 outbreak can be contained earlier than expected, then a new directive will be issued,” it said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Asri, in the same statement, described the decree issued by the Raja of Perlis as timely and even when there was no active Covid-19 cases in Perlis, it was still the responsibility of everyone to double the efforts to ensure that the purpose of the Movement Control Order (MCO) to achieve its goals.
“This extension is in line with ‘Maslahah Aamah’ (public interest) in order to prevent the second wave of Covid-19 from invading the state. Guidelines for the Muslim community to perform religious worship, especially during Ramadan, will be provided for references,” he said.
On March 13, Perlis became the first state to announce Friday prayers to be replaced by Zuhur prayers performed at home as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection.
Perlis is also the first state in the country to shut down surau and mosques from conducting any religious activities except for call for prayers, to be performed by only three mosque officials on duty. — Bernama
