MPR Deputy Chair Asks Minister Of Religion Yaqut To Apologize And Many Istigfar

Indonesian Minister of Religion (Menag), Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (Photo: kemenag.go.id)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chair of the MPR from the PKS faction, Hidayat Nur Wahid, urged the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas to immediately revise the Circular Letter (SE) of the Minister of Religion Number 5 of 2022 concerning Guidelines for Using Loudspeakers in Mosques and Musala.

He also urged the Minister of Religion Yaqut to immediately apologize for his statement regarding the mosque prayer and the barking of dogs.

"It's better if the SE is revised. The negative allegory is immediately withdrawn, apologized and much istighfar," said Hidayat, Friday, February 25.

Hidayat assessed that Yaqut's statement which exemplified the use of mosque toa with barking dogs actually distanced the purpose of the Circular Letter (SE) of the Minister of Religion Number 5 of 2022 concerning Guidelines for Using Loudspeakers in Mosques and Musala.

"The allegory of barking dogs conveyed by the Minister of Religion actually deviates from the SE Minister's goal of the regulation on loudspeakers, harmony," he said.

According to the senior PKS politician, Minister of Religion Yaqut's statement could cause a polemic so that it has the potential to destroy harmony in society. "This figure of speech has the potential to increase disharmony," he said. Previously, the Acting Head of the Public Relations, Data and Information Bureau, Thobib Al Asyhar, had conveyed the Minister's clarification regarding the Azan which was compared to barking dogs.

Thobib emphasized that the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas did not compare the sound of the call to prayer with the sound of a dog. The news that said the Minister of Religion was comparing the two things was completely wrong.

"The Minister of Religion is not at all comparing the sound of the call to prayer to the sound of a dog, but the Minister of Religion is giving an example of the importance of regulating loudspeaker noise," said Thobib Al-Asyhar in Jakarta, Thursday, February 24.

According to Thobib, when asked by reporters about Circular (SE) Number 05 of 2022 regarding Guidelines for Using Loudspeakers in Mosques and Musala during his working visit in Pekanbaru, the Minister of Religion explained that living in a pluralistic society requires tolerance. So it is necessary to have a common guideline so that the harmonious life is well maintained, including the regulation of any loudspeaker noise that can make you uncomfortable.

"In that explanation, the Minister Gus gave a simple example, not in the context of comparing one with another, that's why he mentioned the word example.

What Gus Yaqut meant is that, for example, Muslims live as a minority in a certain area, where many people keep dogs, it will definitely be disturbed if there is no tolerance from neighbors who keep them," said Thobib.

"So the Minister of Religion gave an example, sound that is too loud, let alone appears simultaneously, can actually cause noise and can disturb the surrounding community," he said.