SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCE OF FRIDAY PRAYER CONGREGATION: A CASE STUDY OF A MOSQUE IN THE STATE OF KEDAH, MALAYSIA.

This paper investigates the self-perceived competence of a specific group ofpeople during Friday prayer congregation of a Mosque in the city of SungaiPetani, Kedah state Malaysia. The majority of the Muslims in Malaysia are theMalays whose mother tongue is also the official language of Malaysia; theMalay language. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the linguisticrepertoire of the congregation and to examine the language(s) used in thedelivery process of Friday sermons. Data were collected using questionnairesurveys and audio recordings of Friday sermons. Quantitative and qualitativeanalysis were employed in analysing the data. The findings revealed that amajority of the congregation were Malays who are competent in the Malaylanguage, while the delivery of Friday sermon was conducted in Malay andthe liturgical language Arabic for the sermon to be valid based of five (5)principles of a sermon