KUALA LUMPUR, January 23, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Malaysia's highest Islamic authority on Monday, January 23, banned Muslims from taking part in a "satanic" heavy metal cult, which plays the blasphemous Black Metal genre.

The National Fatwa Council issued the religious edict against the "black metal cult" citing practices in which members stamp on the Noble Qur’an, drink alcohol and freely engage in sex, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Council chair Shukor Husin said the cult's practices went against the teachings of Islam and could propel a Muslim out of the religion.

He asserted that authorities plan to enact new laws banning the music style, allowing prosecution of its Muslim followers.

"We are waiting for state religious authorities to gazette this fatwa under the Shari`ah crime enactment," Shukor was quoted as saying by the national Bernama news agency.

"We are trying to prevent any increase in our society in the number of such band members," Shukor said following a meeting by the council to investigate the issue.

He, however, made it clear that merely listening to heavy metal songs was not a crime.

Some 60 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims, who are subject to Islamic laws as well as the country's secular legal system.

The council's rulings don't affect the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who are mainly Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.

Malaysian lawmakers in October called for an investigation into black metal music, accusing it of corrupting young people.

A religious official in northern Kedah state said authorities were worried about groups of teenage black metal fans, who wore black clothes and eye make-up and were prone to loitering in shopping malls.

Some people in Malaysia, a mostly Muslim nation, have urged authorities to clarify whether Muslims should shun the music after police on New Year's Eve detained some 380 revelers at a black metal concert in Kuala Lumpur for suspected drug use and other offenses.

Black metal is another form of hard metal, like death or trash metal, and is often associated with devil worship because of the dark symbols and clothes used by black metal bands.

The genre is known for its satanic or pagan influences and occult imagery.

It emerged in the early 1980s predating the great expansion of heavy metal extreme genres. Its name is a play on "Black Magic."

It roots belong to Norwegian guitarist Øystein Aarseth (1968–1993), who launched a blasphemous and anti-Christian campaign in Norway through songs that glorified Satan.

The music gained notoriety in Malaysia in 2001 after a series of media exposes on young black metal fans, including lurid stories about ritualistic practices such as drinking blood.

But Malaysian fans and black metal bands have defended the music, saying the rituals are harmless and part of the genre.

Malaysia remains on the lookout for deviant sects which veer from Islam, and authorities are sensitive about cultural or social influences that may affect Islamic religious practice.

Islam prohibits all forms of singing and music that incites debauchery, indecency, or sin.

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