Two imam, two congregations in Kelantan mosque

Found in Translation logo 2014

A VILLAGE mosque in Kelantan caused a stir with the congregation divided between two imam, Sinar Harian reported.

A similar incident occurred in the state several years ago because of political differences.

However, what happened since July 3 at the Pondok Banggol Stol Mosque in Rantau Panjang has no political bearing at all.

The paper said the issue of the two imam stemmed from a conflict between two groups with differing interests.

Religious teacher Yahaya Zakaria, who claimed he and his two siblings inherited the land where the mosque is sited, said he returned to the village after studying in Egypt to continue the work that his late father did for the villagers.

“The problem started in 2010 when I invited some scholars from outside the village and abroad to come to the mosque,” he said.

“Some villagers, instead, chose to defame me, with allegations that I was bringing in deviant teachings to the village,” he added.

Matters came to a head in 2012 when the riled villagers stopped him from entering the mosque.

This led Yahaya to bring the dispute to court and since then, 13 of his opponents were barred from using the mosque since last December.

Earlier this month, however, the court ruled that all villagers could use the mosque during Ramadan.

Kelantan Islamic Affairs and Malay Customs Council (MAIK) deputy president Datuk Yusoff Ismail said the state authorities were probing the matter and would send their representative to the mosque to settle the feud.

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> At least six in every 100 lose their MyKad everyday, reported Berita Harian.

Quoting Home Ministry statistics, the daily said the number was increasing since 2010, when more than 397,000 losses were reported.

Between January and October last year, about 567,160 MyKads reportedly went missing.

Malaysia Crime Prevention Foun­dation (MCPF) vice-chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye asked whether the losses were for real and wondered where the missing cards ended.

• Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.