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Religious affairs minister Zulkifli Hasan has recently encouraged states to hold Friday prayers at shopping malls. Apparently, when the initiative was introduced in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, the response was positive.
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the proposal.
On one hand, I get it. It reduces traffic congestion around mosques. It cuts down on the double and triple parking that frustrates everyone every Friday. It helps office workers who struggle to leave work and make it to the nearest mosque.
As a practical solution, it makes perfect sense.
But practicality isn't the question that has been on my mind.
My question is this: How much easier does religion need to become?
Malaysia is already one of the most religion-friendly countries in the world for Muslims. We have mosques and surau almost everywhere. Housing estates have them. Government buildings have them. Universities have them. Schools have them. Offices have them. Hospitals have them. Petrol stations have them. Even shopping malls already have surau.
In some states, Muslim men who deliberately miss Friday prayers without a valid reason can even be fined.
We have built an entire ecosystem around making sure Muslims practise the faith.
Now we're taking Friday prayers to shopping malls too.
And I can't help but wonder what exactly we're trying to achieve.
Again, I am not saying this is wrong. It may benefit thousands of working Muslims. But it made me wonder whether there comes a point where we stop removing genuine barriers and start expecting religion to be served to us on a platter.
Because here's the reality - no matter how convenient we make Friday prayers, we cannot make anyone perform the five daily prayers.
A Muslim who is committed to praying five times a day usually finds a way, whether at home, at work, while travelling or even at an airport. On the other hand, someone who has no intention of praying will not suddenly become more devoted simply because the prayer hall is next to the food court.
Faith has always been more than convenience. Perhaps that is why this initiative leaves me with mixed feelings.
At the end of the day, a prayer hall in a shopping mall is just another place to pray. Whether we actually pray is, and always has been, entirely up to us.
Malaysia is good at making religion accessible
Frankly, holding Friday prayers at shopping malls has undeniable practical advantages. As mentioned earlier, it can ease congestion around nearby mosques, reduce the chaotic double and triple parking that often clogs roads every Friday, and save workers the stress of rushing across town during a short lunch break.
But then I started thinking about something else.
Malaysia is exceptionally good at making religion accessible.
Need a place to pray? It's almost always nearby. Need to know when to pray? An app will remind you. Can't make it to the mosque? We'll try bringing the mosque closer to you.
Again, none of this is wrong.
But at what point do we accept that faith is one thing that cannot be outsourced?
Nobody can pray on your behalf. Nobody can believe on your behalf. Nobody can develop discipline on your behalf.
We can make religion more convenient, but we cannot make someone more religious.
Religion is more than rituals. Rituals matter, but they're meant to cultivate character.
If attending Friday prayers automatically produced honest people, kind people and compassionate people, Malaysia would have solved all its social problems decades ago.
But we know it doesn't work that way.
The prayer is obligatory. The transformation isn't automatic.
Holding Friday prayers in shopping malls is neither a triumph nor a problem in itself. It's simply another example of how Malaysia has chosen to support religious observance.
Are we putting just as much effort into nurturing the values behind the rituals as we are into making the rituals more convenient?
At the end of the day, the hardest journey in religion has never been walking to the mosque. It's walking the talk once we leave it.
Fa Abdul (fa.abdul.penang@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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