The Wahhabi doctrine cannot be linked to terrorist or extremist groups whose acts of violence are not due to the religious doctrine of any religious group but deviant teachings and other factors.     

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom said when their religious understanding had gone astray, they would take a different approach from others' to the extent of killing innocent people with bombs and so on.     

"In light of this, the government is always monitoring the situation to prevent the spread of deviant religious teachings and understanding as it can be detrimental to society and country," he told reporters after launching the National Huffaz Chamber, here, today.     

Therefore, he added, the public should not accuse any group of being a terrorist group except after being verified by the Malaysia Islamic Development Department and National Fatwa Council.     

Wahhabism  is a conservative Sunni Islamic doctrine based on the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, an 18th century scholar from Saudi Arabia who advocated to purge Islam of what he considered innovations in Islam.     

Asked on the entry of 40 young ulama into Umno, he said they could help explain the 1Malaysia concept and play a bigger role in national development.     

On Friday, 40 young ulama from throughout the country submitted their membership application forms to Prime Minister and Umno president Najib Tun Razak before the party's supreme council meeting.     

Earlier, Jamil Khir said the setting up of the National Huffaz Chamber (Dewan Huffaz Kebangsaan) not only gave recognition to those who could memorise the Quran, but would also facilitate accreditation by the Public Service Department of huffaz certificates issued by the learning institutions and madrasah, and determine the number of Quran memorisers, estimated to be between 5,000 and 6,000 in the country.     

He said with the setting up of the chamber, a secretariat would be established to enable the government and privately-run tahfiz institutions to give their views.     

To date, there are 281 tahfiz institutions in the country, with 2,908 qualified Quran memorisers from Darul Quran and state-run tahfiz institutions.  

 

- Bernama