Former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today took to task a blogger for claiming that the Al-Madinah International University (Mediu) in Shah Alam was recruiting Wahabi extremists.

He said Mediu, which operated at Plaza Masalam, not only offered religious studies but also courses on languages, information communication technology, education, management and engineering.

Abdullah told this to reporters after making a visit to Mediu's campus today.

"Don't be too quick to make assumptions," he said when asked to comment on the allegation made by a certain blogger.

Abdullah said he was pleased with the development of Mediu which now had some 3,000 students from 90 countries.

The university began operations in 2007 when Abdullah was the prime minister.

Abdullah said Mediu also provided a different learning experience for its students as it combined classroom learning with online, or e-learning.

Wahabi is an Islamic sect whose followers are mainly in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, in his speech, Mediu rector Muhammad Khalifa Al Tamimi said its distance learning students would be invited to come to Malaysia once the university's permanent campus was set up.

He added that Mediu had offices in Medina, Cairo, Kuwait, London, Yogyakarta, Makassar, Bangkok, Singapore and Morocco.

- Bernama