KOTA KINABALU, June 6 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said many Muslims have poor knowledge, causing them to be easily used as tools to join terrorist groups.
“Because of this, Muslims are unable to differentiate between good and bad and will be attracted to ideologies which misuse Islam,” he said when opening the 54th annual general meeting of the Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation (Perkim), here, today.
Dr Mahathir, who is also Perkim president, said many Muslims lacked knowledge because they had forgotten to read, the first revelation from Allah to Prophet Muhammad.
“Reading is very important. We need to read everything because people who read will gain a lot of knowledge and information.
“The information and knowledge that we have will make us good practicing Muslims but unfortunately, we don’t read,” he added.
Mahathir urged Muslims to convince the non-Muslim community that Islam is not an aggressive religion and its followers are not fierce people.
“Although Islam teaches its followers to be moderate, Muslims should also be competent and confident to show that Islam makes them succeed in life,” he said. — Bernama
