‘Umno-linked ustaz implied Prophet is racist’

This kind of people is the stumbling block to national unity, says Islamic Renaissance Front.

KUALA LUMPUR: An Umno-linked religious academician has implied that the Prophet Muhamad is a racist in a bid to justify the BN’s racial policies, claimed Islamic Renaissance Front chief Ahmad Farouk Musa today.

He said Fathul Bari Mat Jahya (photo), from the Umno’s Islamic scholars group Ilmuwan Muda Umno (Ilmu), has made the argument in an op-ed in Utusan Malaysia earlier this year.

“The worst thing about Ilmu people… one of its leaders wrote specifically in a column in Utusan that it’s alright for the government to practice racism, because the Prophet was a racist,” he said in a NGO conference this morning.

“And this is the character who is touted to be the next Perlis MB,” he told some 100 audiences in a speech which themed on national unity.

He said these group of Islamists, coupled with the far-right government-owned NGOs, which he mockingly dubbed as “gongos”, are the major stumbling block to unity.

Ahmad Farouk was referring to the Utusan article titled “The Prophet Racist Agreement and The Malay Rulers’ Deal” which was published on Feb 29.

In the article, Fathul argued that the Prophet appointed the keeper of the holy Kaaba key based on the person’s lineage. The Kaaba key keeper overlooks the Zamzam Well, which is believed to be a miraculously-generated source of water from the god.

While Fathul did not openly declare the Prophet as a racist, he however drew similarity between the Kaaba appointment and the social contract “sealed” by the country’s forefathers which guarantees the rights of the Malays.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Farouk also named Perkasa as one the “gongos”, and blamed them for promoting racism.

“They have committed so many uncivilised acts, such as holding a protest to whip the effigy of (Opposition Leader) Anwar Ibrahim and the burger protest in front of (Bersih co-chair) S Ambiga’s house,” he said.

Islamists groups like Fathul’s, on the other hand, hold a strong grip on their religion and allow only subscription to a single ideology of Islam, he said.

The academician concluded by asking people who want to seek for a change to effect the change, for an oppression-free society that can see unity in diversity.