Dr Mahathir Mohamad should not act holier than thou by claiming that 1MDB-sponsored haj pilgrimages would not be accepted by God, said a deputy minister.

"Who is he to question how others worship? It is not fitting for Mahathir to try and play God after all the pleasure and rezeki (gifts) he received from Allah.

"Even the Prophet Muhammad did not know how others worshiped, what more a normal human," Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia today.

He added that what matters is whether the individual performing the haj was sincere and performed it correctly.

On Dec 23, Mahathir told a ceramah at Taman Wira Mergong, Alor Setar that the haj pilgrimages sponsored by 1MDB would not be mabrur (complete and accepted by God) as the source funds were "stolen" by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

"If he gave us stolen money to perform the hajj, is that good? That is what he does, every year he sends 1,000 people to perform the haj using stolen money.

"I don't think that hajj is mabrur. It is not very mabrur," said Mahathir, according to a video clip uploaded by UtaraNews.

Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah said Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years, should not have made such a statement as only Allah The Almighty could evaluate a person's religious practice as acceptable or not.

"It's not our task to evaluate...as humans, we just focus on the religious obligations...do not use this issue for personal interest," he said after a visit to Sekolah Kebangsaan Mergong, Alor Setar, today, Bernama reported.

The government has been sponsoring pilgrimages for imams and village leaders through the 1MDB Foundation since 2011.

The state investment firm is the subject of multiple international probes, including a US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil forfeiture suit which claimed that more than US$3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB.

The DOJ also said that an unnamed Malaysian Official 1 alleged received US$731 million allegedly stolen from 1MDB.

Najib has denied misappropriating public funds, dismissing such allegations as part of a plot to topple him.