REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MANOKWARI -- The Indonesian Ulama Assembly (MUI) of West Papua appeals to all Muslims in the area to shop for various items needed wisely during Ramadan 1445 Hijri.

Chairman of MUI West Papua Ahmad Nausrau in Manokwari, Monday (11/3/2024), said that shopping wisely means shopping as needed and not shopping as desired.

“It is not until when we are fasting that we are more and more wasteful. Unneeded things like the food we buy just for revenge after a day of fasting,” he said.

He said during Ramadan Muslims are taught to curb lust. That way, Muslims should be able to avoid consumerist behavior in shopping.

“It should not only be wise spending, but during Ramadan precisely we should be more frugal, can be frugal spending,” he said.

He explained that the Indonesian economy, even the world, is not doing well at the moment. Commodity prices experienced significant increases as did rice.

That condition should be of concern to Muslims so that Ramadan is used as a momentum for saving and spending wisely.

He said on March 1, 2024, MUI West Papua, Bank Indonesia representatives of West Papua, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Islamic institutions had signed an agreement on inviting people to spend wisely and sparingly.

“MUI strongly supports the government's policy to stabilize the price of goods so that people do not overspend. Consumerist behavior can actually raise prices in the market,” he said.

Implementing the agreement, he said, MUI and Islamic organizations agreed to convey an appeal to citizens to spend wisely and sparingly during the imsakiah schedule distributed to the community.

“We hope that people through the mosque side can pay more attention to this invitation to spend wisely and spend sparingly,” he said.