Department: Mosques, suraus in Sarawak can house more ‘jemaah’ under revised SOP

KUCHING: The Islamic Affairs Department of Sarawak (Jais) is allowing mosques and suraus to increase the number of their ‘jemaah’ (members of congregation), beginning today (June 16).

However under a revised standard operating procedure (SOP) and guidelines complying with the current Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), the size of the congregation is still subject to the mosque and surau categories.

Starting today, the state mosque is allowed to house 80 people for each of the five daily prayers, up from the previous 40people congregation.

For the weekly Friday mass prayer, however, the number of ‘jemaah’ will be increased to 250 people from 100, effective June 19.

For divisional (Grade I) mosques, 80 people are allowed to attend each of the five daily prayers, and 150 for the Friday prayer.

For district and sub-district mosques (Grade II and III, respectively), a maximum of 80 members are allowed to go for each of the five daily prayers, and 125 for the Friday prayer.

For ‘ kariah’ mosques ( Grade IV), 80 people can attend any of the five daily prayers, and 100 for the Friday prayer.

As for ‘ Surau Berjumaat’ – a surau that is permitted to hold Friday prayer – a maximum of 40 people are allowed for each of the five daily prayers, and 80 for the Friday prayer.

For small suraus and ‘ kariah’ mosques that are not authorised to hold Friday prayer, only 40 people are allowed to attend for each of the five daily prayers – up from only 20 people under the last SOP.

Previously, Grade I, II and III mosques could only host 40 people for each daily prayer, and 50 for the Friday prayer, while ‘kariah’ mosques were only permitted to have 40 people for both the daily and Friday prayer sessions.

For ‘ Surau Berjumaat’, the initial numbers of congregation allowed for the daily and Friday prayers were 20 and 40, respectively.