In his latest blog post, he said Muslim scholars in the country were a “strange lot”, talking about Muslim unity while, at the same time, opposed to Shia Muslims.
Responding to Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, who had linked Shia Muslims to threats against national security, Zaid said on paper, Asri was arguably the most qualified mufti in the country.
The DAP member said Malaysian Muslims liked to quote him to cement their arguments on many issues “such as what is halal and haram, which, incidentally, is what Muslims talk about most of the time”.
“I am certainly not a religious scholar, and like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, I neither know how to read Arabic nor wear a serban. But Muslim scholars in Malaysia are a strange lot.
“Every day they keep saying we have to do this and that for the sake of the ummah, ie. the universal community of Muslims. Then in the next breath, they say that if a person is a Shia and not a Muslim of the Sunnah wal Jamaah variety, then ipso facto this person is a threat to national security.”
Pointing out that Iranians and other Shia groups from around the world are allowed into Mecca during haj, Zaid said “to this non-scholar, that must mean they are Muslims too”.
He said at an international Islamic conference in Amman, Muslim countries including Malaysia had also recognised Shias as Muslims.
“So why this persecution of Shias if they are Muslims too?
“We don’t have to emulate Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Sunnis and the Shias keep throwing bombs at each other. We have to emulate India and Bangladesh, where they live together in peace.
“Their practices may differ, just as the practices of Protestants differ from that of the Catholics, but that’s not a reason to regard Shias as a threat to national security.”
On Jan 23, Asri admitted that he was part of a team from the Perlis Mufti Department who went to the home of activist Amri Che Mat to question him in 2015. Asri also hit out at the activities of Amri, a Shia Muslim.
His admission followed a claim by Amri’s wife Norhayati Ariffin that Asri was part of a team of some 20 policemen and officers from the Perlis Mufti Department who questioned Amri and investigated the activities of his NGO, Perlis Hope.
Norhayati revealed the incident at a Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) inquiry into the mysterious disappearance of Amri, Joshua Hilmy and his wife Ruth.
However, Asri denied that he had anything to do with Amri’s disappearance.
Zaid, in his blog post, asked how a Shia living in a small town in Perlis and doing voluntary work to help the poor could be a threat to national security.
“I hope the learned mufti can explain to those of us who are not experts how one can be a threat to national security just because one belongs to a particular group or community.
“I suspect the reason Shias are seen as a danger to Muslims here is because Muslim leaders here are afraid their practices may be attractive to other Muslims in the country, causing them to abandon one for the other.”