Kedah madrasah head denies New York Times ‘militant’ claim

The madrasah in Kedah, as shown in the New York Times video, where Mohd Lotfi Ariffin taught before he went to Syria to join the battle against President Bashar al-Assad. – February 25, 2015.

The co-founder of a religious school in Kedah has denied allegations that the madrasah propagates militant ideologies among its students.

Mohd Zainon Ariffin of Madrasah Nurul Hidayah in Kuala Ketil said The New York Times’s claim in its documentary was untrue.

"My madrasah does not teach the students to become terrorists.

"Islam has never taught its followers to become violent or to be terrorists. In Islam, the term terrorist is not in its vocabulary. Islam bans violence," he told Bernama when contacted by telephone today.

The madrasah which is located more than 100 km south of Alor Star attracted foreign media attention as Zainon’s younger brother, the late Mohd Lotfi Ariffin, played at important role at the madrasah.

Lotfi, 46, was  a former information chief of the Kedah PAS Ulama Council who was involved with Syrian group Ajnad al-Sham who fought against President Bashar al-Assad.

Lotfi died at a hospital in Turkey last year due to serious injury following an air strike by pro-Assad forces.  

Zainon said his younger brother did not join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

He said he felt cheated by journalists from the foreign media which produced the documentary.

He added that after the report, he faced various problems including being investigated by the police, besides being monitored by the authorities.

A few days after the documentary was aired, Kedah police chief Datuk Zamri Yahya in a media conference said police would take action and monitor any madrasah in Kedah suspected of being involved in militant activities.

According to Zainon, the foreign journalists took two days to shoot the documentary at his madrasah and said that the duration of the documentary to be aired was 48 minutes.

But the final duration of the documentary aired was merely eight minutes, he said. – Bernama