Hundreds flock to house after prayer mat floats (kuasa Allah)

Magic act: Residents looking curiously at the floating prayer mat shaped like a woman performing prayers at Mohamad Shuhaimi's house in Permatang Pauh, Friday.

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Hundreds of people have gone to the house of a Malay couple in Taman Haji Mohd Amin in Permatang Pauh since Thursday after they heard that a prayer mat there had apparently floated.

The crowd started to turn up at the house of Mohamad Shuhaimi Md Ilias and his wife Zainab Ramli, both 26, after news of the phenomenon began to spread rapidly.

The couple had apparently seen the prayer mat floating at about 9.30pm on Thursday.

Mohamad Shuhaimi, a despatch rider, said that several minutes before the incident, he and Zainab were discussing their house’s ‘‘kiblat’’ (Islamic prayer direction).

He said he told his wife to shift the direction of their ‘‘kiblat as it was different from the nearby mosque’s ‘‘kiblat’’.

“However my wife did not agree with me and she insisted that the kiblat in our house was accurate,” said Mohamad Shuhaimi.

He said after the discussion he unrolled the mat inside their prayer room before taking his daughter to the bathroom to bathe her.

”While I was bathing my daughter, my wife called me to say the prayer mat was ‘standing’ on its end. We were stunned as neither of us had touched it,’’ he said.

A team from the state religious department visited the house after Friday’s prayers.