KUALA LUMPUR - A mosque in the town of Kajang issued an apology to its congregants, after it sounded the evening azan (Islamic call to prayer) four minutes early.

During the month of Ramadan, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk. They break their fast once the azan for maghrib (sunset) prayers is sounded.

The mistake at Prima Saujana mosque on March 30 meant that some residents in the township in the Malaysian state of Selangor broke their fast prematurely.

The mosque’s administrator, Mr Mohamad Asri Harun, explained in a statement on March 31, which was reported in Malaysian media, that the blunder was the result of a “technical error”.

He added: “We have referred this matter to the Selangor State Department of Islamic Religion and have been informed that those who (relied) solely on the maghrib call to prayer from the Prima Saujana Kajang Mosque to break their fast on that day that their fast is void and needs to be replaced.”

Muslims who are judged to have invalidated their fast have to make up for the day of the fast before the next Ramadan.