Nik Aziz: Prophet welcomed non-Muslims into mosques

By FMT Staff

KOTA BAHRU: Censuring Umno for stoking intolerance, PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat declared that there is nothing wrong in non-Muslims entering a mosque and that it was definitely not against Islam. He said inviting non-believers into mosques was one of the ways Nabi Muhamad had used to spread Islamic teachings.

“If we return to history and Islamic civilisation, you will find that many of the Arab Quarasy citizens who were non-believers visited Nabi (Muhamad).

“Nabi (Muhamad) kept them in the mosque. They slept in the mosque, ate in the mosque and even urinated in the mosque!” he told newsmen.

Nik Aziz said this in response to the recent controversy involving Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching who had made an unofficial visit to the Al Huda surau in Kajang last Sunday.

He attributed such intolerance to poor understanding of Islam and the Islamic civilisation.

"This issue is polemic in society because it is tainted by political sentiments which have desecrated the purity of Islam,” he said.

He attributed such intolerance to poor understanding of Islam and the Islamic civilisation.

“Our relationship with Islam is getting further and further, there is no learning anymore, as such these issue continue to arise.

“Such polemics will only push non-Muslims further away from Islam. This is directly against Nabi Muhamad’s teachings.

“Non-Muslims can enter the mosque... They can ceramah or do whatever… there is no problem. Barring non-Muslims from entering the mosque is our culture certainly not taught by Nabi (Muhamad),” Nik Aziz said.

Three groups of people

According to Nik Aziz, people were classified into three groups – the new believers, the non believers but who are likely to embrace Islam and the those who do not believe in Islam but respect the religion.

“However knowing that there are three groups of people, we are only interested in one group.

"The other two we have chosen to abandon because our society is drifting further and further away from the non-Muslims,” he said.

On Saturday, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad urged Muslims to be more discerning and to  separate customs from religious laws, particularly involving punishment.

He also advised Muslims not to be tied down to traditional elements and practices and urged them instead to adhere to the Islamic civilisation which dated back to the time of Rasullullah.