Indulging in Valentine’s Day celebrations can lead to alcoholism, abortion, fraud and baby-dumping, Malaysian Muslims were warned on Friday.
The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) issued an official sermon describing how the occasion could lead young Muslims in particular, to a life of vice.
"Social ceremonies such as this are a stepping-stone towards greater social ills such as fraud, mental disorder caused by alcohol, abortion and baby-dumping, and other negative ills that can invite disaster and moral decay among youths," it said, according to an AFP translation.
Muslim high school students protest against Valentine's Day on 14 February 2014, in Indonesia
The sermon ominously adds: “It will begin with lies, mental instability due to alcohol consumption and being pregnant out of wedlock.”
JAKIM has orchestrated anti-Valentine’s campaigns since 2011, the Malay Online reports.
It enlists volunteers to approach youths and warn them of the alleged dangers.
Undeterred: Newlyweds pose during their mass wedding ceremony in Malaysia on Friday
But the warnings went unheeded by 138 couples from the country’s Chinese minority who chose to mark the date this year with a mass wedding.
The nuptials took place at the Thean Hou temple in Kuala Lumpur, and saw the release of hundreds of heart-shaped balloons into the air.
More than 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 28 million people are Muslim ethnic Malays.