KUALA LUMPUR: The government will deploy a group of ustaz to travel around the country and educate Muslim communities to counter extremist ideologies promoted by some political leaders.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said the government has observed the re-emergence of the Khawarij group. Historically, the Khārijites– its adherents are called– have been known as a deviant sect that rebels against mainstream Islamic school of thoughts and persecutes those who do not share the same political beliefs.
"I think we have to show that the teaching of Islam does not necessarily have to be exactly like how the political leaders from the other side show them to be.
"In parliament, I am shocked sometimes that they could use scripture to not only throw vitriol but also to misrepresent the meaning and interpretation of certain verses.
"Helping to alleviate poverty is a noble objective and one which we would like to achieve and yet they would twist scripture to say look, if there is no poverty, what will happen to the Zakat (mandatory almsgiving)?
"They completely lost the message," he said, in an interview during BFM's The Breakfast Grille podcast show this morning.
Fahmi said the current government has demonstrated its commitment to upholding the Malay and Muslim agenda, as well as the role of Islam, throughout its first year in office.
"We are working very hard to have spokespersons, particularly what we call 'asatizah' - the ustaz, where a group of them who will traverse the country to speak to communities and engage with different groups of people to show them that Islam is not just what some of these individuals espouse," he said.