KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — The assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday was a great loss to the Muslim community, said some attendees of a prayer session here for the slain Palestinian leader.
A 47-year-old entrepreneur, Syful Darwis, said he has known of Ismail since the 1990s, when the former was still in university.
“I was really sad. I always follow the updates on Hamas. He's humble yet he's a great leader. It's a huge loss for the Palestinians and us Muslims. It's hard to find a leader like him,” he told Malay Mail after the absentee funeral prayers for Ismail at the National Mosque, here.
In Islam, it is permissible for Muslims to hold absentee funeral prayers for a person in a different city, regardless of distance.
Syful said he learnt that the funeral prayers would be held at the National Mosque but unfortunately he missed it as he was late.
“I rarely come to this mosque but I saw on social media that the prayers will be held here, so I booked Grab from Hartamas but I missed it, so I just prayed the Maghrib prayer,” he said.
Nizam Ariff, 48 from Shah Alam was in the area and decided to join the prayers at the mosque.
“He (Ismail) was the main man for the Palestinians. It's a big loss and I think the repercussions are going to be quite bad. It's quite scary,” he said while walking out of the mosque’s prayer area.
Nizam was expecting a bigger crowd for the funeral prayer, but said “it was okay” as the these were held in three different locations, with the other two in Putrajaya.
About 50 to 60 Muslims were seen joining in the prayers led by Senior Imam Hassan Alfadhli Abdul Rahman.
Hassan said that another absentee funeral prayer for Ismail will be held tomorrow after the Friday prayers.
Yesterday, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil has said that Malaysia will hold a rally at the Axiata Arena in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, at 8pm this Sunday as a mark of solidarity with Palestine and to honour the memory of Ismail.
"Malaysians are invited to attend and we will open this space for all parties to be together to express solidarity and we hope this will be a clear signal to the international community that Malaysians’ stance on the Palestinian issue has not changed and we will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” he said.
