A mass Muslim wedding of 22 couples was abandoned in Sabah after the imam leading the ceremony came to blows with a local religious official, a report said today.

The imam was about to begin the ceremony when an officer from the Sabah Islamic Affairs Department objected, the Star newspaper reported.

The official claimed the imam of the Al Kauthar Mosque in Tawau town did not have permission from the town's religious affairs unit to conduct the marriages.

The argument degenerated into a scuffle between the two men, causing the 22 couples and their family members to flee.

Malaysia is a conservative Muslim majority nation with its practice of Islam strictly guided by federal and state religious departments.