Lyna Mohamad

Three new books from the State Mufti’s Office, together with a compilation of the State Mufti’s Fatwa were officially launched yesterday, in a ceremony held at the Darulifta lobby.

State Mufti Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned was the guest of honour at the launching.

The three new book titles are Ath-Thaharah, Umara’ dan Ulama and Masjid.

Ath-Thaharah is a compilation of 49 Irsyad Hukum published by the State Mufti from 1996 to 2018, with 378 pages of guidelines and clarifications on the rules of Thaharah (ritual purity).

Umara’ dan Ulama is a 164-page collection of the special religious talks and keynote working papers that were delivered by the State Mufti at seminars and dialogues, both locally and abroad.

Masjid is a 74-page translation of Kitab al-Majmu’ Syarh al-Muhadzdzab, a work by Imam an-Nawawi Rahimahullah in the field of Fiqh, according to Mazhab Syafi’e.

Meanwhile, the State Mufti’s Fatwa is a compilation of the Fatwas that were serialised from 1994 to 2017.

The ceremony began with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah, followed with welcoming remarks by Acting Administration Director at the State Mufti’s Office Haji Saiful Nizam bin Haji Sulaiman.

This was followed with a speech by the State Mufti who said, “The State Mufti’s Office can be considered as the only religious agency in the world that has successfully presented the Fatwa through constant publication. It has been acknowledged by my overseas counterparts, that Brunei is very advanced in its efforts to issue Fatwa publications.

“From 1997 to the present day, which is nearly a quarter of a century, the State Mufti’s Office has continuously published the Fatwa in book form.

“Apart from being well-received here, the books were best-sellers at the regional and international book expos in which our department was invited to participate.

“To date, the State Mufti’s Office has published 124 titles, apart from other publications such as Berita Al-Hadaf which is published four times a year and has achieved 23 years of publication.

“The State Mufti’s Office has also produced DVDs and VCDs containing talks and the presentation of working papers, including programmes that were aired on Radio Television Brunei (RTB).

“On a regional level, we received the following awards for publishing: the 2014 Premier Award for Publishing in the Malay Archipelago, the 2018 Award for the Best General Book in ASEAN and the 2018 Award for the Best Book Translation in ASEAN.

“These three prestigious awards were presented by the National Book Development Foundation of Malaysia (YPBN). On a local level, the State Mufti’s Office has received several awards, including the Best Publisher (Academic) of 2013, the Best Publisher (Academic) of 2014 and the Best Publisher (General) of 2015.

“These awards were presented during the Brunei Book Fair and the Carnival for the Advancement of a Reading Culture hosted by the Brunei Language and Literature Bureau (DBP).”

The book launching was accompanied by a recitation of Selawat Ibrahimiah by the officers and staff of the State Mufti’s Office.

Later, the ceremony concluded with a presentation of the newly launched books as a Waqaf to selected higher education and public libraries.