KUALA TERENGGANU, Dec 31 — While Muslims in the country appear to be weak because of the various incidents, there has been greater acceptance for the teachings of the religion, said Terengganu State Mufti Dr Zulkifli Muda.

He said there was a rise in the number of congregators at the mosques during prayers and such commitment showed there was improved acceptance for the Islamic religion.

However, he said, throughout the year 2013, Muslims especially in this country faced attacks from the spread of the Shiah teachings and other deviant teachings in various forms.

“In addition, there are Christian groups who want to use the 'kalimah Allah' in the Malay version of the bible which can confuse the Muslims in differentiating Islam and Christianity.

“Then, there is a strange social phenomenon (in Terengganu) where the Mat Rempit groups own thousands of motorcycles. All these are challenges which must be resolved immediately if the Muslims want to continue to maintain their supremacy in their beloved country,” he told Bernama, here today.

Dr Zulkifli said the problems of disunity among Muslims in 2013 appeared to be still unresolved and, in fact, there were some Muslims who had sacrificed several important elements merely to gain the support of the non-Muslims.

“Hopefully in the new year there would be solidarity because nothing good can be achieved without solidarity.

“Personally, I'm puzzled how issues which are said to be fundamental for Muslims such as the use of the word Allah by Christians, the issue on Shiah, the issue on Islamic/Malay supremacy and so on can have various opinions among the Muslims,” he said.

Dr Zulkifli said that in such matters, there should only be one opinion, namely strongly defending the rights and faith of Islam and to be united against anyone challenging them.

As such, he said Muslims from whatever political background and organisation should have one common opinion.

He hoped that the year 2014 would be the year of implementation of Islamic legislation in a more effective and comprehensive manner. — Bernama