Muslims following ‘Islamic’ leaders more than Islam itself, says Dr M

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said Muslims around the world appear more interested in following leaders who seem to fight for Islam than the teachings of the religion itself.

He said Muslims around the world are committing “terrifying acts” against each other although Islam is meant to be a peaceful religion.

“We need to explain the teachings of Islam. That is another mistake that we make – we don’t adhere to the teachings of Islam.

“We are more interested in following the instructions of leaders who emerge seemingly to fight for Islam, but in fact they are not fighting for Islam nor are they adhering to the teachings of Islam,” he said at a talk on Islamophobia organised by the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia.

He said it was important for Muslims to return to the “true teachings” of Islam, adding that killing is not permitted as murdering even one person is equal to “killing the whole of humanity”.

“If we do that, I’m quite sure that there will be no Islamophobia. We would regain our strength, be reunited and we would be able to erase the bad name that has been given to us,” he said.

Mahathir also said many Muslim leaders had failed to govern their countries because they attempted to implement democracy without sufficient knowledge and understanding.

He said this had led to many Muslims suffering because their leaders did not follow the teachings of Islam and had failed to plan and execute things properly.

“Many would say that this is God’s test for us to see if we can handle a bad situation or not. And many of us recite long prayers asking for help from God.

“But as the Quran says, He will not grant you your requests unless you make the correction by yourself first,” he added.

He said the lack of understanding of Islamic teachings was in part to blame for Islamophobia around the world, and urged Muslims to look inward before blaming others for the phenomenon.

He also said the main reason behind acts of terror was the displacement of Palestinians from their land from Israelis, adding that they are under great oppression from the Jews.

“The better thing to do is to gain the sympathy of the world by showing that the Israelis are the perpetrators of injustice against the Muslims. We need to have more people supporting the struggles of the Muslims.

“Acts of terror do not help in winning support… What does give results is a good strategy using diplomacy and other means to win over the support of many people.

“While we can blame the Israelis, we should also try to find out why the term Islamophobia was coined and applied to us. We have done things which created fear in many people.” - FMT