This after FMT alerted organisers on one of the speakers at the “Khayr Ummah” conference co-organised by the Department of Special Affairs (Jasa), a unit under the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia, whose name was included in a 2014 list of individuals providing financial and legal support for groups such as Al Qaeda.
Saudi Arabian scholar, Shaikh Rashid Al-Zahrani had earlier presented a paper at the conference’s second and final day today, where he hailed two hardline Saudi muftis, Muhammad bin Ibrahim and Abdul Aziz bin Baaz, as among Muslim scholars who realised the Islamic concept of Wassatiyah, or moderation.
The terror list list, issued in 2014, was also published by the Global Alliance For Terminating Al-Qaeda/ISIS (Gafta), a think tank which exposes financial backers of the two groups.
According to Gafta, the list included names of 131 academics, activists and clerics belonging to 31 countries from around the world “providing legal support for jihadist movements and armed groups”.
But Malaysian Ilmuan Association (Ilmu), a government-linked Muslim preachers’ group which alongside the Saudi government and several organisations hosted the two-day conference, dismissed the list, saying Rashid was among scholars who had promoted moderation and spoken out against terrorism.
“Personally, I deny this charge, because Rashid is someone who has been vocal against terrorist activities,” Ilmu chairman Fadlan Othman told FMT when asked about the list.
Fadlan said the inclusion of Rashid’s name in the list could have been a mistake.
He added that it was also possible that the person who’s name appeared on the list was a namesake of the Saudi preacher.
Meanwhile, an aide in the Prime Minister’s Department, Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, said the speaker’s full name is Sheikh Rashid bin Uthman al-Zahrani, while the full name of the individual accused of terrorism is Sheikh Rashid bin Misfer al-Zahrani.
Yesterday, several speakers of the conference lashed out at Shia Islam as responsible for extremism, with one speaker even labelling the second largest Muslim school of thought as more dangerous than the IS militant group.
They were among more than 20 speakers mostly from Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, as well as from Asean countries, many of whom spoke on the theme of strengthening Sunni Islam as a unifying factor for Muslims in the region.
Saudi Arabia is leading President Donald Trump’s so-called Arab alliance to fight terrorism. But the kingdom has been blamed in the past for the rise of extremism, including for inspiring militant groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda through its Wahhabi ideology, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam.