THE Selangor religious authorities today made a veiled attack against Muslims who are hostile towards those with different interpretations of Islam. 

In its Friday sermon, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jaid) said these Muslims are religious but failed to inculcate moral values in their lives. 

“Recently, there are individuals who practise religion as a way of life but do not instil moral values in their own character. These people think that only their version of understanding is correct and must be adhered to. 

“In fact, they will easily utter degrading, vulgar words by hurling negative allegations against those who disagree and have different thoughts from them,” the department said in its sermon titled “Excellent akhlaaq, perfect ibadah”. 

On Monday, the sultan of Selangor stripped preacher Zamihan Mat Zin of his accreditation to preach Islam in the state. 

The Kajang Prison Department religious officer, who is on secondment from the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim), had criticised Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar for banning Muslim-only laundrettes in the state, and allegedly said the Chinese were “unhygienic”.

Selangor palace secretary Hanafisah Jais said on Monday, Zamihan’s credentials were stripped because his religious lecture contained statements that were racist, vulgar and overtly critical of the royal institution.

Jais also stressed on the relationship between behaviour (akhlaaq) and belief (iman), saying the behaviour of Muslims must be consistent with their belief. 

“Ultimately, akhlaaq will result from the righteous deeds, istiqaamah (steadfastness) and ikhlaas (sincerity).

“Iman has no value if akhlaaq is missing. It is akin to an empty house that is uninhabited,” it said. 

Johor was the first to take action against Zamihan, including severing ties with Jakim.

He was arrested last week after a video clip of his lecture in Shah Alam surfaced on social media.

In the video, Zamihan said it was not Sultan Ibrahim’s right to declare that Muslim-only laundrettes had no place in Johor. – October 20, 2017.