The Quran should be the sole reference on Islam for Muslims, Malaysian former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.
In his keynote address at the International Islamic Forum (IIF) here, the country’s longest-serving PM said the religious text should take precedence over interpretations by clerics and religious scholars, which he complained have turned Islam into an exacting and inflexible faith.
“If we go by the teachings of all teachers of Islam, none of us would qualify as Muslims,” Dr Mahathir said.
“Islam is not rigid. The Quran provides answers to all the problems we face now, but it has to be seen differently and not paralysed with the way were are taught to,” he added.
He said that the opinions and interpretations of the religious class are at times incorrect, citing examples from his youth that later proved to be untrue.
This included prohibitions against electric power at mosques and the transportation of Muslim corpses on automobiles.
“Of course we laugh now, but at that time people took it seriously,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said that Islam was now being hampered by scholars and preachers intolerant of other view of the religion apart from theirs, even labelling dissenters as heretics and apostates.
“If we are not going to question them and keep accepting them, the Muslims will find themselves unable to find their footing in the present world,” he added.
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