PETALING JAYA: A PPBM leader has accused Abdul Hadi Awang of racism, after the PAS president suggested that non-Muslims should only be in Cabinet posts to play the role as technocrats but not as policy makers.
Rais Hussin, who heads PPBM’s policy and strategy bureau, said Hadi was indulging in “narrow politics”, saying the PAS ideologue was becoming “more right wing than Umno”.
“Islam abhors racism and Hadi is becoming more Umno than Umno,” he told FMT.
Rais then went on to accuse Hadi of using Islam for “worldly ends”, and quoted a hadith (saying) of the Prophet warning of such leaders at the end of times.
“Men will come forth who will fraudulently use religion for worldly ends and wear sheepskins in public to display meekness. Their tongues will be sweeter than sugar, but their hearts will be the hearts of wolves.”
Rais was asked about Hadi’s piece published by PAS mouthpiece Harakahdaily recently, in which he said non-Muslims under an Islamic administration could still become Cabinet members but with limited powers.
Quoting from the 11th century scholar Al-Mawardi, Hadi wrote that non-Muslims could still play a role in governance, but only in management duties, not in policy-making.
“In politics, Islam makes it compulsory that the main leadership in charge of policies and concepts must be from among Muslims, and accepts non-Muslims to execute their expertise and play a management role, not in matters of policies and concepts. As such, Islam, through elections, accepts positions filled by non-Muslims or a technocracy,” he said.
Amanah vice-president Mujahid Yusof Rawa said Hadi’s ideas would cause disunity among Malaysians.
“His idea is dangerous,” said the former PAS leader.
He said PAS should be rejected for such a backward idea and for encouraging racial discontent.
Mujahid also took Hadi to task for quoting Al-Mawardi’s notion of non-Muslims, saying they were for a different age when scholars applied the “harbi” and “dhimmi” concepts.
Harbis are those who are at war with Muslims. Dhimmis are non-Muslims who accept the rule of Islam. They are required to pay a tax for their exemption from military duty and from having to pay the zakat.
“Those concepts do not apply in Malaysia,” Mujahid said.