Muslims need to show to the world that they are moderates instead of sitting idly and allow hardliners to portray their religion in a bad light, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

These hardliners, Zahid said, have painted a negative perception towards Islam, including halal products.

“Islamaphobia must be deleted from the bad memories of non-Muslims. Islam does not teach us to be involved in the so-called Daulah Islamiyyah, or ‘Islamic State’ in English. Islam never taught us to kill others.

“The problem is that some of the so-called hardcore (people) are painting a negative perception towards Islam, including the halal products,” he said in his opening speech at the Halal Conference in Kuala Lumpur, organised by the Standards and Metrology Institute for the Islamic Countries.

“Now is the time for us to move forward and show to the world, show to the non-Muslims: We are moderates, we are real Islam, we are peaceful ummah.”

Zahid told the audience there would be some 1.3 billion Muslims around the world by 2030, whom he said should not be controlling the world by military might, but instead work together with the rest of the world.

He said Muslims would like to share their halal products and services with non-Muslims, and this would be beneficial to non-Muslims because they adhere to international standards.

Meanwhile, switching from addressing the international audience in English to Malay, Zahid lamented that Muslims are often the first-mover in introducing Islamic products and services, but non-Muslims, and even countries where Islam is not the official religion, have since taken the lead.

'Why did we get left behind?'

“Unfortunately, halal products are produced by thinkers and scientists from our religion, but those who got the opportunities are people who don’t share our faith at all.

“They have taken over a large portion of the halal ingredients market. Where are our people? Why did we invent something that is good, but got left behind?” he said, while stressing that he has no prejudice against non-Muslims.

As an example, he said Malaysia was in the forefront in Islamic banking by introducing sukuk bonds and other services, but other countries were now taking over the lead. Also lagging behind is the area of halal certification for food products.

He said ‘we’ have been too generous in sharing knowledge, whereas some should have been kept as trade secrets. It is unclear who exactly he was referring to.

Zahid also called for differences of opinion and squabbles to be set aside, in a favour of seeking a more holistic approach to address the issues.