PUTRAJAYA, Feb 26 — The federal government today announced plans to set up a special bureau to identify and raise public awareness of false hadith (sayings of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad) in a bid to clamp down on attempts by the Islamic State (IS) and other terrorists groups to draw Muslims to their cause.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the use of false hadith has been an effective tool to recruit people to join the IS, posing a real problem to national security.

“There is recruitment done for would-be terrorists, including those joining the IS, using fabricated hadith to draw this group to join IS, including the 14-year-old girl who was influenced because she believed a hadith was true,” he said at a news conference here.

“We found that there are numerous conflicting interpretations and findings of hadith that have no source or are too vague,” he added.

Last week, police said a 14-year-old girl arrested on suspicion of wanting to enlist with the IS had been influenced by her alleged husband-to-be to join the militant group.

The girl, a student of a religious school in Shah Alam, was detained on February 17 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport just before she boarded a flight to Syria via Egypt.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said then that the IS member had coaxed the girl to join the group on the pretext of marrying her, but added it was possible the girl’s story was fabricated.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom today said the government must tackle the problem directly at the source, especially online where the IS and other terror organisations are actively recruiting members.

“The world has become more developed. People seeking hadith are no longer taking the traditional route of finding a teacher.

“Now they go online where they are exposed to so many hadith... there are hadith that are simply made up,” he said.

Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria noted that Muslim scholars of old have already compiled a book of false hadith, and urged the authorities to make an effort to help the masses identify such fabrications through education.

In Islam, hadith are “prophetic traditions” based on the actions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad, which are not contained in the Quran.