KUALA LUMPUR: Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria has questioned the need for former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to repeat 'old stories' such as the 1985 Memali tragedy when the damage has already been done.
He said that as religious leaders, muftis prefer to stay away from politics and focus on dedicating their lives towards empowering the religion.
He was commenting on Dr Mahathir's statement yesterday, who blamed muftis for not countering Pas’ decree, the so-called "Amanat Hadi" when it became public in 1980s.
Dr Mahathir, who made the statement at the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s general assembly, had also said that if the muftis had objected to the decree, the bloody Memali tragedy would not have occurred.
“It’s been decades and it’s done. What can we say? We just have to accept it as a punishment from God.
“Besides, this is a political issue. We (muftis) do not want to get involved because we don’t want to be accused of taking sides,” he said when contacted today.
Meanwhile, Perlis Mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said he believed that 'Amanat Hadi' had played a role leading up to the bloody tragedy as well as causing disunity among Muslims in the country.
“The Amanat (Hadi) clearly declares the constitution of this country, as unIslamic (kafir) and (the people) should go on a jihad against anyone who adhered to the constitution.
“The content of the Amanat, if it was to be carried out, would be even more dangerous than the beliefs of the Islamic State (IS) followers now,” he said.
While refusing to comment on Dr Mahathir’s accusation against muftis, Dr Asri however pointed out that the National Fatwa Council, had, at the time, did their job in declaring the 'Amanat Hadi' as misguided (sesat).
In the Memali incident on Nov 19, 1985, violence erupted when villagers resisted the police’s attempt to arrest religious teacher and local Pas leader Ibrahim Mahmud, popularly known as Ibrahim Libya, under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for deviant teachings, an allegation rejected by Pas.
The incident saw a massive police siege on the village which ended with 14 residents and four police officers killed.