I refer to Chan Kai Poh's letter Umno losing ground in hudud battle with PAS and would like to add my comments to it.

Umno as well as most other Muslims subscribe to the belief that interpretation of the Quran and discourses about it and the hadith (Prophet's traditions) should be confined to the ulama (Muslim scholars) and those who have spent a whole life time studying the Quran.

They are deemed to be the only ones knowledgeable about it. It was this argument earlier in the year that silenced the five Malaysians who have been writing on the subject of Islam.

Obviously even without verification the general assumption would be that PAS would have among its members and leaders the majority of Muslim Malaysians who are "knowledgeable in the Quran.

Thus their interpretations cannot be undermined or belittled by anyone not qualified to do so. By this argument, even Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad might be bordering on blasphemy for his interpretations.

It is unfortunate that all Muslims find themselves in a knot here as after all, they are the ones who often keep repeating that it is the Prophet himself who empowered those in the know over those other common followers of Islam.

The members of parliament and state assemblypersons in Umno who speak against PAS' version of Islam just don't stand out as having credibility. How can they provide any credible argument when only PAS's members appear to have the credentials?

Umno's problems in this regard lie at the very heart of the practice of Islam, not in Terengganu!