Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin has invited the anti-Wahhabi NGO Amin to a forum on the dangers of extremism in religion.

The group yesterday urged the government to act against the spread of Wahhabism, and accused Asri of propagating this in Perlis.

"I am confident (Amin spokesperson Sheikh Abdul Kareem Said Khadaeid) has lots to present, and we can accept his views if he has solid justification.

"Otherwise, as someone with self-worth, he should correct his statements," Asri said in a statement.

Wahhabism, a movement within the Sunni branch of Islam, is often described as conservative, puritanical and literalist.

Asri said Perlis has never tied itself to one Islamic school of thought or movement, and has always been open to differing views.

He said Islam in Perlis is one of moderation, where practices are based on various schools of thoughts which are deemed most suitable to circumstances.

For example, he said, it is common practice in Perlis to skip the qunut, a recitation in pre-dawn prayers, unlike in the rest of Malaysia.

However, there is no action taken against those who recite the qunut during pre-dawn prayers, and there are imams in Perlis mosques who do practice this.

Perlis also discourages preachers who use labels like "infidels" or who "condemn people to hell", he said.

"There may be differing views in Perlis but we do not face problems of having two imams during congregational prayers, not eating meat from animals slaughtered by other Muslims, or divorce among couples due to belief in differing schools of Islamic thought, because we do not fanatically constrain ourselves to only one school of thought," he said.

Nevertheless, he conceded that Perlis rejects Shiite practices, because it believes sectarian differences could lead to bloodshed.

Malaysia are generally followers of the Shafie school of the Sunni branch of Islam, but some practices from other schools have been endorsed by religious authorities.

This includes payment of tithe using cash instead of livestock, as per the Hanafi school of thought - a move Asri said was first allowed in Perlis before replicated nationwide.

Abdul Kareem yesterday urged the government to ban all Wahhabi-related literature and stop the spread of the movement in Malaysia.

He also urged Asri to "not try to push his views outside of Perlis".

"We would not interfere if your sultan allows it, then it is your right to propagate in Perlis.

"But we Malays must respect all sultans... so he must respect the beliefs of other sultans," Abdul Kareem had said.