Malays willing to kill to get to Heaven, says Dr Mahathir

TUN DR MAHATHIR

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister yesterday lamented that the Malays were now willing to engage in religious violence, which included killing other Muslims, in order to gain entry into Heaven.

Following reports that some Malaysians had taken arms and joined the civil wars in Iraq and Syria, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pic) said those who participated in them were willing to do these things because of political and ideological differences.

"But, we have not heard of any ulama give an opinion or make a fatwa on the actions.

“If they think suicide and killing more Muslims will lead them to heaven, perhaps more Malays will wrap bombs around their bodies and detonate themselves in order to kill many unknown Muslims and not be enemies with them,” he said in his latest blog posting.

Dr Mahathir said he tried searching the Quran for the order that Muslims can commit suicide or kill other Muslims, but instead found verses that urged Muslims to make peace.

He added that those killed were not enemies of Malaysia.

"We are not in any danger because of the attacks in places like Iraq and Syria. The Holy Quran tells us to ensure that we bring peace among two Muslims if they were enemies. If any party rejects peace, only then can the third party be in favour of the party that accepts peace.

“But Allah didn’t tell us to preach hostility in favour of any party. Allah repeatedly said that He doesn’t like people who bring chaos,” said Dr Mahathir.

The Malaysian Insider reported that more than 100 Malaysian radicals are believed to be in the Middle East fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).

The number is based on intelligence reports which the Special Branch has received, according to a senior police officer from Bukit Aman.

Wisma Putra on Tuesday said in a statement that 15 Malaysians had been killed in Syria while allegedly fighting for Isis, a splinter group of al-Qaeda that wants to set up an Islamic caliphate encompassing both Iraq and Syria.

Isis, which has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq, is also fighting in Syria and has become a magnet for Muslim volunteers from Asia and Europe.

The Sunni insurgent group reportedly were also successful in seizing large amounts of weaponry from a defeated Iraqi army.

Also, PAS on Thursday revealed that it had sacked cleric Lotfi Ariffin last month after learning he had signed up with a militant group fighting in Syria.