Saying that this act by PAS was unforgivable, Mahathir said that before PAS was set up, the Malays were not divided as a result of religion.
He said it was clear that PAS had split the Malays into two factions and weakened them.
“No ulama in Malaysia dare to claim that the labelling of those not in PAS as ‘kafir’ is wrong and against the teachings of Islam.
“Officers responsible for Islam have also stayed silent,” he said in his latest blog post.
The scathing attack comes just days after Mahathir had received rare praise from PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, who was of the view that the former had mellowed and did not take a very hard stance against the Islamist party.
Mahathir, who is also the MP for Langkawi, further stated that the weakness of the Malays was such that PAS even had to ask for help from those who are kafir (non-believers).
“But when PAS works together with parties that are kafir, they claim they (PAS) did not become unbelievers. They say this is because PAS’ cooperation with the non-believers is called ‘tahaluf siyasi’.
“What is ‘tahaluf siyasi’ in Malay? It means political cooperation, and this is the same as what is being done by Umno, in working together with MCA and MIC.
“It is clear that the Arabic language (the language of the Quran) is used to Islamise PAS’ cooperation with non-believers,” he said.
The Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman said that to PAS members, the acceptance of the teachings of the leaders and the party are more important than the teachings of Islam.
Mahathir said that even though the Quran stated that Muslims were brothers, PAS members were willing to be enemies with other Muslims, all because of what their leaders taught them.
“It is because of such an attitude that the Malays in the country are also divided until now.
“It is not Islam that divides the Malays, but the politics of PAS that causes that divide,” he said.
Mahathir said even though some PAS members had left the party, many of their members were still absorbed with PAS and its teachings.
“The divide among the Malays will continue. It will continue so long as PAS wrongly defines and abuses the teachings of Islam.
“This is why I oppose PAS,” he added.