Former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said in the Quran there was only one Islam and it was mankind who created variants.
“Today, there are all forms of Islam .There is even “Ayah Pin”. All this is incorrect,” he said in an exclusive interview published in Utusan Malaysia today.
He said the involvement of Muslim Malays in jihad activities began with wrong religious teachings.
“Islam is a way of life (ad-din) and there are numerous prohibitions and requirements. This (jihad) is not taught. It is stated in the Quran that Muslims cannot kill, especially a fellow Muslim.
“We cannot question Islam or how Islamic a certain person is merely because he is a little different from other Muslims.
“Yes, we do not like the Shia coming here and we reject it, but we cannot say he is kafir (unbeliever).
“It has reached a level where we believe the Shia are kafir and we kill them. He recites the Muslim declaration of faith, he prays, he accepts the Prophet and God.
“That is why I say people go to jihad because they do not truly follow the Islamic teachings. In turn, they teach us Muslims to be enemies with one another.
He said it was a sin and one would enter hell for killing another Muslim.
The former prime minister said the jihadist movements have also convinced Sunni Muslims that it was okay to even kill fellow Muslims from a different school of thought, namely Shiites, by classifying the latter group as infidels who can be killed.
“Look at how they are killed. They are lined up and shot with a pistol. Is this fair? There is no trial or anything. Islam prioritises justice. When one is sentenced, make sure it is done fairly. It has been repeatedly said in the Quran.
“Is it fair you kill someone without trial? You kill him because he is supposedly not Muslim.
“Islam prioritise justice. When you punish, you punish justly. This was said many times in the Quran. Is it just that you kill them just because they’re allegedly non-Muslim, without any trial?”
The 89-year-old claimed that although some Shiites similarly kill the Sunnis, the Quran did not command the two denominations to be at war with each other.
“In Quran, there is only one Islam. We are the ones who made them into three types of Islam, four types. Now, there are 1,000 types of Islam… This is not right.”
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