A youth organisation today rapped PAS deputy president Abdul Hadi Awang for supporting the view of the Muslim Scholars Association of Malaysia (PUM) that only those well-read in the Quran and Hadith could comment on Islam.

Abdul Hadi, in an interview with malaysiakini yesterday, likened several academics including Farish A Noor and Zainah Anwar, to monkeys who do not know the use of flowers for writing about Islam without a good knowledge of the Quran .

In one unthinking, shallow understanding of the religion, Hadi has dismissed the fundamental right of all people of all religions to actively participate and discourse on Islam, said Stephen Doss, president of the National Youth Association of Malaysia in a press statement.

Doss said if Abdul Hadi truly believes in democracy and the right to religion, he should stop hindering and influencing individuals who do not share his viewpoints. Islam should not be the sole purview of a certain elite group within the religion, he added.

We sincerely hope that Hadi will come to understand that Islam has no place for the arrogant, misguided usurpation of the religion by any individual or group of individuals, said Doss.

Anti- ulama 

Meanwhile, Abdul Hadi was reported by the New Straits Times today as saying that the ulama (Islamic scholars) were not an untouchable group and could be criticised provided it was done for the betterment of Muslims.

However, he was also quoted as saying that only other ulama or someone who was an authority on Islam could do so. Otherwise, the person would be deemed as anti- ulama .

Last month, PUM lodged a report with the National Fatwa Council against writer Dr Farish A Noor and The Edge business weekly.

PUM claimed Farish had belittled the Prophet and the ulama in an interview published by the weekly.

PUM has also submitted a memorandum to the Council of Rulers urging them to take action against Farish, The Sun s columnist Akbar Ali, University Malaya lecturer Dr Patricia Martinez, lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Sisters in Islam executive director and Human Rights Commission commissioner Zainah Anwar for their alleged controversial remarks regarding Islam.