What’s wrong with Valentine’s day, Nazri asks

Sharing article from The Malaysian Insider with regard to Muslims celebrating Valentine's Day.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — All Malaysians including Muslims should be allowed to celebrate Valentine’s day, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today.
“Why can’t it be celebrated? I disagree...it is not a form of prayer,” said the defacto law minister.

He was asked to comment on Islamic affairs minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom saying that Islamic religious authorities have launched nationwide enforcement efforts to nab Muslims celebrating Valentine’s Day today.

“What is wrong with Valentines’ day? People just want to express their love to one another.

“How different is it from other days, where we can do the same thing?” Nazri asked.

He also criticised PAS for campaigning against Valentines’ Day, saying that such efforts were plain “ridiculous”.

Last Friday, official sermons also warned Muslims against celebrating Valentine’s Day, which the federal Islamic authorities claimed was in breach of the tenets of their religion.

In the text of a sermon provided by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) titled “Awas jerat Valentine” (Beware Valentine’s trap), Muslims were told that asking someone to be his or her “Valentine” could lead to idolatry.

PAS Youth has also been spearheading anti-Valentine’s Day celebrations in recent years.

It claimed that the celebrations would lead to greater vice among Muslim youths.

This year, the Islamist opposition party’s Youth wing urged the federal government to exert greater control over Valentine’s Day advertisements to curb social ills.

Valentine’s Day celebrations have been a solely commercial affair since 1969, when the Roman Catholic Church dropped February 14 as a feast day.