“It is not the will of Allah to want the whole world to be Muslims. If Allah wanted that, today everybody would be Muslims. For Allah this is easy, He just says ‘kun faya kun’ (Be, and it is) and everything will be as He says.

“But Allah doesn’t tell everyone to be Muslims. There are those with different races and religions. Everyone can live together in peace and be friendly to all,” he told reporters during the Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) National Convention 2016 today.

Mahathir said those who preached about Islam had to take a moderate approach although many Muslims would disagree with him as most preferred to take an extremist approach instead.

Earlier, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu said the party represented all Malaysians regardless of race and religion and that people should reject any form of extremism.

He said even though Amanah had a predominantly Muslim leadership, the party promoted unity among all races.

He also said all political parties should refrain from observing a tribal mentality.

“When we choose to be together, we should avoid any tribal-like and jumud (rigid) thinking, giving importance only to one’s own group,” he said when delivering his speech.

He added that the party’s political struggle was to promote the spirit of togetherness among everyone.