Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin said having differing views with preacher Zakir Naik is no reason to send him back to India.

"For your information, I too have since the start held views which differ from Zakir and his approach. I, too, have advised him of the Malaysian situation. To date, he sees it differently and that is his right.

"Yet, this is no reason for him to be accused of terrorism and to send him back to the BJP-led India," he said in a statement today.

Asri said this after coming under fire for his poem which mentioned "our preacher" as a reference to Zakir.

The poem condemns the worship of cows, the caste system and the defunct practice of widow-burning and questions if "our preacher" should be subjected to this environment.

Zakir is under investigation in India for money laundering. In Bangladesh, he has been accused of inspiring extremist believes, after one of perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Dhaka was reported to be a follower of his teachings...