ISLAMIC preacher Zamihan Mat Zin, who was last week remanded for two days under the Sedition Act over his criticism of a royal edict banning Muslim-only launderettes in Johor, is no stranger to controversy.

An employee of the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), which has been told that it is no longer welcome to advise Johor on religious matters, Zamihan was today stripped of his accreditation to preach Islam in Selangor.

Zamihan has denied criticising the Johor sultan’s ban, claiming he was  merely defending the need for Muslims to remain religiously “clean” by not having their laundry mixed with that of non-Muslims.

This is not the first time that Zamihan, who was seconded to the Kajang Prisons Department to be the religious officer, has spoken out in the name of religion.

The 41-year-old Zamihan, who is also the Pertubuhan Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah (Aswaja) president, has previously antagonised the muftis of Perlis and the Federal Territory with accusations of Wahhabism.

Zamihan called Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin a Wahabi and accused him of supporting terrorism, charges that the Perlis mufti denied.

Zamihan also called Asri a “dog mufti” for saying that Islam did not prohibit its followers from keeping dogs.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim had to intervene in the quarrel between the two. He suggested that they take their differences to a debate in February last year, which was, however called off at the last minute.

Ali Sunnah Wal Jamaah, or Sunni, is the largest sect of Islam in the world. Wahhabism is an austere form of Islam that predominates in Saudi Arabia and which world leaders have called the main source of terrorism.

In June, Zamihan took on Federal Territory mufti Dr Zulkifli Mohamad, whom he also linked to Wahhabism in a presentation to the Selangor Islamic Religious Council.

Zamihan’s slides went viral and were even shared on Facebook by PKR religious bureau chief Wan Ji Wan Hussin.

Zamihan said he was only presenting data that he had obtained in January last year from a meeting with Zulkifli that was also attended by Jakim officers.

Zamihan had also accused the late Kassim Ahmad of pioneering an anti-hadith movement in Malaysia.

Zamihan had uploaded a video of his visit to the Muslim intellectual’s home in Kulim, Kedah in 2014 on Youtube, titled “Kassim Ahmad – The  truth behind his faith”. 

The contentious preacher from Gua Musang, Kelantan has himself fended off allegations that he is a spiritual healer who communicates with the spirits.

“If I held a jin, so what? It is also a creature of Allah.

“When people are possessed, when they become hysterical, people call us for help and we go. We resolve the issue. That is Allah’s gift,” he was reported as saying on Malaysiakini in February last year. – October 16, 2017.