It was definitely a mosque that was torn down, stressed PAS Terengganu in response to a challenge from Umno to the opposition party to swear while holding the Quran regarding the matter.

"PAS is willing to swear at any time to prove what we say is true," PAS Terengganu's Dewan Ulama head Hussin Awang was quoted as saying in a Bernama report today.

Both parties have locked horns over a building demolished by the state government at the Kampung Bujal land scheme in Kemaman last month.

Terengganu, a predominantly Malay/Muslim state, was formerly governed by PAS but the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional took control in the 2003 elections.

The challenge from Umno came from the state's Islam Hadhari development committee deputy chairperson and Sura state assemblyperson Ahmad Kamal Abdullah.

He made the challenge during a speech in Besut four days ago.

Ahmad Kamal was convinced that no PAS leader would take up his challenge since "they have been lying to the people and cannot prove that the building was a mosque as its construction was never approved by the state's Islamic and Malay customs council or the state fatwa committee."

Any time

Meanwhile, Hussin said the practice of swearing by holding the Quran never occurred during the time of Prophet Muhammad and there are no indications to suggest that it had happened then.

"However, it does not transgress with syariah laws, Dewan Ulama PAS is willing to do so at any time," he said, adding that he is waiting for a formal invitation from Umno on the matter.

PAS Terengganu Youth secretary Wan Sukairi Wan Abdullah said the wing supports the party's Dewan Ulama in accepting the challenge.