Speaking to FMT, Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi of UCSI University said he was currently arranging for a dialogue with Maszlee Malik, who teaches various Islamic subjects, including jurisprudence, at the International Islamic University (UIAM).
Maszlee is also a well-known commentator on political Islam and a humanitarian activist. Tajuddin teaches Islamic architecture at USCI.
Tajuddin said one of the issues he hoped to discuss was the need for new textbooks that could shape students who read them into Muslims who could interact with others in multi-religious and global settings.
“I’m not sure how you are going to build a nation that interacts with the global community if you are speaking in an isolated manner,” he said.
“The framework is already there in Islam. It’s just that we’re not looking at it with the intention to interact with people who have different beliefs.”
Tajuddin is one of several public figures who has voiced disappointment with Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin for posting on his Facebook a poem that appears to belittle Hindus.
The poem refers to people who “idolise cows” and defends an unnamed preacher against attempts to hand him over to an “evil government”.
Asri has since said the poem was directed at Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s administration for allegedly allowing Muslims to be killed for slaughtering cows, animals that are considered sacred by Hindus.
Tajuddin, refusing to comment on Asri’s clarification, said there was a “bigger problem” than the poem itself or Asri’s intention in writing it, adding that his intention was “between him and God.”
He said he found it “even more worrying” that Asri had received a lot of support from the Muslim community.
“That is an indication of a serious problem in our method of religious instruction, regardless of whether it’s Islam or any other religion,” he said. “It just happens that in this particular scenario, we’re talking about Muslims.
“If we in the East believe religion should be a strong part of our political, social and economic life, then we have to look anew at how we are educating our children in a modern context.
“The concepts of a nation-state, democracy and a globalised community are not taught to the children. We are still using 100-year-old methodologies to educate our children. Back then, there was no such thing as multiculturalism.”
He said the crux of the problem lay in the religious teachers themselves and this was often brushed aside.
“The problem is that the people teaching religion, regardless of which religion it is, are close-minded. Until they realise this, the problem is not going to go away even in 2050.”
He said he did not believe legal action was needed against Asri since he was not known to be a troublemaker.
“We are human and we make mistakes,” he said.