‘No to politics in mosques’

Other states of the Federation of Malaya already provide for the separation of political and religious affairs. According to the Islamic Religious Affairs Commission, the mosques have become a place of debate and some parties take advantage of religious initiatives to spread their positions.

Kuala Lumpur () – The Prince Regent of the Malaysian state of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, has called for politics to be kept out of mosques and religious institutions. The statement was made public yesterday by the chairman of the Johor Islamic Religious Affairs Committee, Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid.

The 38-year-old prince, who also chairs the State Islamic Religious Council, also reiterated the obligation to submit all public activities of a religious nature to the approval of the competent authorities and to supervise the training of personnel to avoid doctrinal errors or teachings. Not relevant to the religious sphere.

In itself it is nothing new, since the laws of several states of the Malaya Federation already foresee this type of obligations with different nuances (the one of Johor appears in article 96 of the Law of Enforcement of the Islamic Administration of 2003). The Sultan of Johor himself, Ibrahim Iskandar, had already intervened in the matter before, the last time in 2019.

“Any activities in the form of sermons, small group discussions, religious knowledge sharing and others must be approved by the Department of Religious Affairs,” and all those responsible for these activities must be officially accredited and recognized by the same department, he confirmed. Mohd Fared to the press. He also anticipated that guidelines on the matter will be placed in 850 mosques and 2,000 smaller prayer centers. In addition, the heads of the department will hold talks with religious leaders, local deputies and leaders of political parties to clarify the provisions.

Mohd Fared himself stressed how mosques have also become the stage for political debate and that some parties take advantage of religious initiatives to propagate their positions.

Various Malaysian media reported that the Kelantan State Islamic and Tradition Council had urged mosque leaders not to engage in political activities during last year’s general election. On the other hand, in the state of Selangor, the local Islamic Religious Council had revoked in 2021 the certificate that allowed political activists to teach the Islamic religion. In 2019, the Sultan of Perak, Nazrin Shah, had called on religious preachers and members of mosque management committees to step down if they pursued political agendas deemed offensive to the sanctity of religious sites and rites. that are celebrated there.

The religious card has long been played by political parties, particularly those that have long been in power in the country, to take advantage of the support of Islamists or to discredit their opponents. This consequently worsened relations within the diverse Malay society.