Zainon said that Madrasah Nurul Hidayah did not teach students to be militants, The Star reported.
“We did no such thing. We don’t even know what the Islamic State is,” he told the daily, in denying a report published in The New York Times last year, that the religious school had promoted its co-founder, Lotfi, as a martyr.
Zainon added that whatever he knew about the terrorist group was derived from various news reports.
He did not wish to speak about his brother, asking the media to “let the past be past”.
“If I speak any more, it may open old wounds and sadden my family,” The Star quoted him as saying.
Lotfi, a former PAS member, died in 2014 from wounds suffered in an assault by Syrian government forces which also killed fellow Malaysian fighter, Mohammad Fadhlan Shahidi.
At the time, the duo and other Malaysians were reported to have said they were fighting for Ajnad al-Sham, a rebel group that operates near the capital Damascus and which has since distanced itself from more militant groups, such as Islamic State (IS) and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
The Star’s interview with Zainon followed revelations that many of the suspects arrested over the IS-inspired Movida grenade attack in Puchong on June 28, were from Kedah.
When asked to comment on the rise in suspected militants originating from Kedah, Zainon expressed sadness, explaining that God does not allow people to fight in the name of race or pride.
“Our duty is to be helpful to all humanity. Only then can the goodness of Islam be shown to non-Muslims,” he was quoted as saying by the daily.