KUCHING, Nov 24 — Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today called on Muslims to balance the physical beauty of mosques and surau with the proliferation of knowledge so as to build a better image of Islam in this world and hereafter.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that when Islam was made the federal religion, Muslims in the country carried the responsibility of placing the agenda of development and solidarity of the ummah at the forefront.

He said Muslims in the country should be portrayed as having a good image, advanced and knowledgeable in many fields and not a community associated with poverty, crime, violence or bad image.

"The image of Islam must be branded by the progress of the ummah, not by dependence on others. Let’s not have a handful of Muslims tarnishing the image of Islam, then having this compounded by the Western countries through the creation of various terms such as al-Qaeda, IS, ISIL, IS and such,” he said in his address when opening the Darul Husni Warrahmah Mosque in Petra Jaya here.

Ahmad Zahid said that even if only a handful of the 1.8 billion Muslims in the world were involved in activities that damaged the good name of Islam, it would still tarnish the image of the religion.  —Bernama