“If there are any quarters who ask for it to be thrown away, there has to be talks and it cannot be done in haste,” he was quoted as saying yesterday by the Sinar Harian newspaper.

Sheikh Marwazi said the Kedah Fatwa Council must first be consulted, and the state mufti’s office would then have discussions with the local authorities.

“Let there be official discussions first, we have to look at all angles, including the [law] where carving statues resembling humans or live animals is ‘haram’,” he said.

The statue of the eagle, which sits on Dataran Lang at the Kuah waterfront, is a symbol of Langkawi.

Its status under Islamic law was raised in the media after a comment by Perak’s deputy mufti, Zamri Hashim, in the Berita Harian. He said it was forbidden in Islam to make full-bodied statues of living creatures.

However, Sheikh Marwazi noted that this was an old issue being raised again. “When the construction of the statue in the shape of an eagle was proposed, maybe those who proposed it did not refer to the religious authorities about its necessity and the [codes]. But all are aware that any such statue is haram,” he said.

Kedah executive councillor Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid, who is in charge of religious affairs, suggested the mufti of each state make their own decisions “in line with what fits each state and find a solution.”

He pointed out that Terengganu had a turtle replica while Kuching had cat replicas.