KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian religious officials have condemned Black Metal music as contrary to Islamic teaching in an edict calling for the genre to be curbed, but they are still weighing whether to permit cosmetic botox treatments.

Followers of Black Metal, a rock variant dominated by occult imagery, could be prosecuted under Islamic law, state news agency Bernama quoted a member of the National Fatwa Council, the body responsible for issuing religious edicts in Malaysia, as saying.

Muslims make up just over half of Malaysia's population of 26 million, and although the government is secular, Islam is the state religion, so religious officials's views are influential.

Merely listening to black metal music was not wrong, said Dr Shukor Husin, chairman of the council's panel on Islamic affairs. Problems arose when followers of the movement engaged in devil worship and free sex, drank liquor, stepped on the Koran religious book or other un-Islamic acts.

Religious authorities in Malaysia's different states were preparing to enact the fatwa into law, and it was up to them to enforce it, he added, but did not say what penalties would apply.

The panel was also studying whether the key biological agent in botox treatments, known as Botulinum Toxin Type A, met the Muslim requirement for food considered to be "halal", or permitted for human consumption, Bernama said late on Monday.

"What needs to be looked into is the scope of its use that has expanded from medical to cosmetic purposes," Bernama quoted Shukor as saying, adding that Islam prohibits plastic surgery. - Reuters