Indonesian Vice President calls for fatwas to regulate worship

Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin (Photo: Jakarta Post)

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin has called on Muslim clerics to issue fatwas to regulate the special circumstances that Muslims may find themselves in amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ma'ruf, who also currently serves as the Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), said the MUI and other Islamic organisations should issue fatwas that provide guidance on the bathing of the dead and on wudhu (ablution rituals) in certain circumstances. 

Speaking at a press conference at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Ma'ruf asked the MUI to issue a fatwa that allows medical staff to perform prayers without first performing wudhu.

Last week, the Indonesian Ulema Council issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims living in areas with widespread COVID-19 infection from performing Friday prayers and other congregational prayers at a mosque.

As of March 23 afternoon, Indonesia reported 579 infection cases, including 49 deaths.

The same day, Indonesian top legislator Bambang Soesatyo wrote a letter to leader of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and head of the COVID-19 Task Force Doni Munardo requesting to issue authority to conduct a rapid test to all members of the parliament. 

In Singapore, up to 509 infection cases have been recorded so far, 152 of them were discharged from hospital./.