The discussion between Arbibi Ashoy and Hussein Omar on the role and function of OIC has indeed effectively reopened the rational reasoning process among Muslims with the noble intention to rebuild the 'ummah' from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire and to restore the rightful place of pristine Islam and God-loving Muslims in the world. Please also allow me to contribute my ideas.

The first thing we must remember is that the Muslims' human attempt to comprehend the fullness and greatness of God and His Plan for us is an open-ended and evolving one. Human beings are not God. We just try to understand His will so that we are better prepared morally and spiritually for the Day of Judgement.

On this premise, Muslims should not be self-righteous as to assume that they are already in possession of the final and absolute truth and wantonly condemn others for being 'deviationists' or 'hypocrites', etc.

In fact, for oneself to assume to be already in possession of the final and absolute truth about Islam or God's will and all the sacred messages of the Prophet (PBUH) is to be arrogant to the extreme.

Seen in this light, Muslims must, above all, recognise the legitimate doctrinal differences within the 'ummah' itself. Muslims should allow different denominations or schools of thought such as Sunni, Shiites and Sufis, etc to publicly explore the truth about Islam.

It is wrong for Sunni-majority Muslim societies to oppress or silence the Shiites and Sufi and it is equally wrong for Shiite-majority Muslim countries to do likewise to Sunni, Sufis and other denominations.

All schools of thought within the 'ummah' must acknowledge and respect each other's existence and engage each other in debates and discussion in the process of discovering the ultimate truth.

Secondly, in our efforts to discover the ultimate truth, we must continue to eliminate the limitations of time and space in our understanding. By definition, the ultimate truth about God must transcend time and space because God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.

He cannot be an Arab or Malay or still live in the seventh century. God is for all peoples at all times.

From this premise, Muslims must continue to separate the true messages of Islam from the ethnic cultures and traditions of the Malays, Arabs, Turks, Iranians, Egyptians, Indonesians, Chinese, Indians, Europeans, Americans and Africans etc.

In short, true and authentic Islam requires de-racialisation or de-communalisation in the beliefs and practices of Muslims. Only then could God's messages be universal for all mankind.

Also, authentic Islam must be able to separate form and substance or appearance and reality. The greatness of Islam is stored in its messages for all mankind. It's therefore in the hearts and minds - not in pompous ceremonies, grandiose mosques or buildings, colourful, expensive or exotic attire or flowery or fiery speeches.

Last, but not least, is the recognition on the part of Muslims that modern social sciences and humanity studies can assist us to search for the ultimate truth about ourselves and our environment. There must be intellectual intercourses between theology on one hand and modern social sciences and humanity studies on the other.

If these modern social sciences and humanity studies are against Islam, then there is no reason for God to have allowed them to develop and flourish over the past 500 years or so.

It is time Muslims begin to accelerate the search for the ultimate truth or we will be stagnant intellectually, morally and spiritually.