BANGI, May 28 ― Muslims are duty-bound to uphold human rights long as those rights conform with the teachings of Islam, deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

He said it becomes a major responsibility of every Muslim and Islamic administration to defend human rights, which includes the freedom to think and speak in the interests of truth and good.

“What is rejected is unbridled freedom that goes against the principles and practices of the faith and bring about negative consequences to man,” he said in his speech when closing the Muslim NGOs Congress 2014.

“This includes what is said to be the right of a Muslim to kufur or leave Islam in the name of religious freedom,” he added.

Muhyiddin said nothing can be put above the basic principles of the Islamic faith, which calls on Muslims to uphold their faith and subservience to Allah.

He said this extends to prohibitions on issues such as mixed-faith marriages and gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles.

“These practices clearly go against the faith and are not recognised as rights that need to be defended in Islam,” he said.

The Umno deputy president noted that the Islamic world today faces countless challenges that threaten to tear down their congregation and lead Muslims astray.

He said such challenges are no more obvious than the push by certain groups for recognition of human rights from a Western secular-liberal perspective.

“This has promoted a belief in human rights that has diverged far from the tenets of religion. This includes unlimited individual rights which go against the values and principles of the Islamic faith.”

Muhyiddin said it becomes the role and responsibility of Islamic NGOs to counter this “twisted” approach to human rights by actively engaging the public through comprehensive explanations on the concept of human rights from the Islamic perspective.

He noted, however, that Muslim NGOs must be subtle, bearing in mind that Malaysia is a plural society with peoples of varied faiths and ethnic backgrounds.

“As we all know, Islam never refuses or denies human rights which are the basis of freedom and human nobility (kemuliaan insan).

“The basic issue that must be understood is that Islam recognises human rights so long as it does not run counter to Islamic principles,” he said.