KUALA LUMPUR: The 'door mats' recently seized by Johor religious authorities from a hypermarket for bearing the image of the holy Kaabah on them, are actually mini prayer mats or 'sejadah'.
AEON BiG (M) Sdn Bhd, in a statement today, said the confusion arose due to the items being inaccurately labeled as door mats by the supplier.
The hypermarket said they were made aware of the issue on April 9 and had extended its cooperation to the Johor Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ).
It said the supplier involved, A&R Fashion Collection is a 100 per cent Bumiputera and Muslim-owned small medium enterprise which supplies Syariah-compliant clothing such as prayer robes, hijab, kurta, sampin, songkok as well as products such as prayer mats, carpets and rugs.
The company, said AEON BiG, was established in 2007 and has been its supplier since 2015., on top of being a supplier to other retailers.
"A&R has since confirmed that the product in question is indeed a mini 'sejadah' (prayer mat), given that the design is a vertical format which is a common practice.
"However, in line with AEON BiG's best practices for SME suppliers, A&R proceeded to use an item code previously used for the company's various other products. As a result, the label tagged onto the product carried several descriptions, thus causing confusion," it said.
AEON BiG said the matter was immediately rectified in the hypermarket's stock management system and the description of "Sejadah" on the said prayer mat has since been reflected.
"Both the managements of AEON BiG and A&R hope that this joint statement will clear any doubts on this issue. We hope that there will not be any further speculation that may cause unrest in our multicultural society.
"AEON BiG and A&R will continue to extend our full cooperation with JAINJ and any relevant authorities should there be any further information required," it said.
Earlier today, the Batu Pahat Islamic Religious Department said it had seized 11 such door mats at a retail outlet in the district, a day before Aidilfitri.
This came about after an image of the items went viral on social media, with a social media user expressing concern over why door mats bore the image of the holy Kaabah on them.