Selangor sultan to vet names of religious teachers, mosque officials who refuse Covid jab

Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah will go through the names of Al-Quran and Fardu Ain class (Kafa) teachers, mosque committee members and marriage solemnisers who do not want to be vaccinated to determine the action to be taken against them.

In a statement, Sultan Sharafuddin conveyed his disappointment and sadness that only 203 out of the 873 religious teachers, mosque and marriage officials in the state had attended the special frontliners vaccination programme organised by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque yesterday.

“What further disappointed the ruler was that out of the 203 present, 96 people refused to be vaccinated. What happened was very disappointing as the individuals’ stubbornness will cause problems for others, especially religious school students,” the statement said.

Sultan Sharafuddin stressed that various initiatives and methods have been carried out in collaboration with Jais and the Selangor Health Department, including expanding and facilitating the Covid-19 vaccine distribution to mosques and religious offices to ensure the safety of all Muslims in the state.

Meanwhile, State Public Health, Unity, Women and Family Development Committee chairman Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said the refusal of some Muslims to be vaccinated would make it difficult for the authorities to allow the full reopening of mosques in the state.

“The reluctance of Muslims to take the vaccine has resulted inthe failure to get full approval to reopen mosques as there are still mosque officials who do not want to be vaccinated. This is very sad,” she said at a press conference.

JAIS director Mohd Shahzihan Ahmad was reported as saying that out of the 146 individuals who were present as at 11am, only 20% of them agreed to receive the first dose of vaccine.

He said the actual number of those ordered to be present at the programme, held in collaboration with the Selangor Health Department, was 872 from among Kafa teachers, mosque officials and committee members, and marriage assistant registrars.

Shahzihan said Jais is expected to present the list of individuals refusing to receive the Covid-19 vaccine under its special vaccination programme to Sultan Sharafuddin on Friday for further action.