Perlis Mufti: Muslims not united because of prejudices

JAKARTA: There are factions among Muslims because they suffer from “narrow-minded crisis,” said Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin yesterday.
As a result they also have the tendency to label as “unIslamic “ those who do not share their views.
“They refuse to accept the views of others and also do not give them a chance to ask,” he said on the sidelines of an international seminar on Islamic thinking here.
Earlier, he presented a paper on the Role of Al-Sunnah in Assessing and Managing Religious Thinking at the seminar, organised by the Perlis Government, the Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia and the Jemaah Muhammadiah Indonesia.
More than 100 ulama and Muslim intellectuals from Malaysia and Indonesia attended the three-day International Islamic Thinking Reformation Seminar, which ended yesterday.
Dr Mohd Asri said narrow-minded Muslims only contributed to the backwardness of Muslims.
He added that such Muslims who resorted to violence to solve problems had led to Islam being labelled violent and militant.
He said Islam needed a new image to bring back its glory days.
Dr Mohd Asri alleged that some ulama had not freed themselves from outdated views and understanding.
Citing tithe collection as an example, he said Muslims were too bogged down with fundamentals leading to constraints in the use of the funds. – Bernama

tunku: i agreed with what Dr Mohd Asri said on this issue 100%.We always tend to label others of being unIslamic enough.Some of the "lebais" always see us like we are dirts and they are very clean.That's why Tun Dr Mahathir had always said follow the fundamental of Islam, back to basic, follow the true teaching of Quran. In Quran there's no sunni,syiah,etc and everyone is equally love by Allah, there's no difference in us, be it malay,indian,chinese etc.Dont easily label others unIslamic.