KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — The Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 (KL Summit) will seek to address and resolve problems plaguing the Muslim world ranging from terrorist attacks to the decline of Muslim nations, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

In his welcoming address, the prime minister said that today, Islam, its practitioners and Muslim countries are in a state of crisis and have become unworthy of the religion that is meant to benefit mankind.

"We have seen other countries devastated by the Second World War not only recovering quickly but growing strongly to become developed. But a few Muslim countries seem unable even to be governed well, much less to be developed and prosper.

"Is it our religion that is in the way? Is it that Islam is against worldly success and becoming a developed country? Or is it the Muslim themselves who prevent their countries from being governed well, from being developed.

"These issues will be discussed at the highest levels of the state but involving only to a few countries for a start. It is not possible to handle the whole of the Muslims countries worldwide as it will be unwieldy and decisions made and solutions proposed may not be implementable,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also acknowledged that some issues facing the Muslim world — such as fratricidal wars, civil wars, failed governments and others — have plagued the religion and its practitioners without any serious efforts at rehabilitation.

He pointed out that Muslim countries are being destroyed, with their citizens being forced to seek refuge and asylum in non-Muslim countries, leading to many deaths and many being refused asylum.

At the same time, there are also Muslims who perpetrate violent acts such as killing innocent men, women, children, the sick and the incapacitated.

"They have done this because their own countries are unable to provide security for them or do anything to retake the land that has been seized by others. Frustrated and angry, they react violently without in any way achieving their objectives.

"They seek revenge but all they succeed in doing is to bring into disrepute their own religion of Islam. They have created fear by their actions. And now this Islamophobia, this unjustified fear of Islam has denigrated our religion in the eyes of the world.

"But we need to know how this fear is generated, whether it is true or mere propaganda of our detractors or a combination of both,” said Dr Mahathir.

The KL Summit was first held in 2014 and is presented as a platform for global Muslim discourse.