‘Nik Aziz working with the devil’

PETALING JAYA: Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused the PAS spiritual leader of inking a Faustian pact to achieve his political goals.

Without mincing his words, the 85-year-old statesman accused Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat of compromising his beliefs, and “working with the devil” to achieve electoral success.

However, Mahathir did not specify who the devil was in this context.

“Whatever that rolls out of Nik Aziz’s mouth is to win elections and to become the joint ruler of this country with DAP and PKR.

“For this, he will openly disparage the Muslims in Umno, work with those who reject his struggle to form an Islamic state ala PAS, and defend non-Muslims who want the rules of the religion relaxed.

“Nik Aziz hopes that by doing so, non-Muslims would support his party. So Islam is not the topmost priority (for the PAS leader), winning elections is,” he added in his blog.

Apart from God, Mahathir also stressed that no man could judge his deeds, and this included the PAS spiritual leader.

Taking Nik Aziz to task for being self-righteous, Mahathir reminded him that he too would one day come before the almighty.

“Nik Aziz will stand before Allah and all that he has said and done in this world will be judged in the hereafter. His tongue, hands and feet would bear witness (to his actions).

“It is not for Nik Aziz or for anyone to judge me,” he said.

“Until we are judged in the hereafter, we cannot be as arrogant as to think that we have not sinned while condemning others for theirs. Only Allah knows.

“Nik Aziz’s claim that he is a man of faith after dividing the Muslims and making all sorts of allegations will be judged by Allah. His confession of piety would not suffice,” he added.

‘I never said I was going to heaven’

Mahathir, who was responding to Nik Aziz’s divine retribution reminder, said that he had never claimed of being right all the time or that he was bound for heaven.

“I also never asked the people to support or vote for me, saying that it would guarantee them a spot in paradise. It was Nik Aziz who made such claims,” he said.

Mahathir also lambasted the PAS leader for openly condemning those from Umno as “Jahiliah” (lost in ignorance).

“And to embrace the light is to support PAS. Have the ulama with no political interest decided that a condition to being a Muslim, was to support PAS?

“Where does it state in the Quran or Hadith that one would only be considered a Muslim if he or she supported PAS?

“If that was true, our ancestors who were here before the formation of PAS would all be Jahiliah. While Muslims outside of Malaysia would not be Muslims because there was no PAS in their countries,” he said.

Contrary to PAS, Mahathir said, Umno did not claim that only its members were Muslims and en route to paradise.

In the lengthy posting, the former premier also touched on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, a policy introduced towards the tail-end of his 22-year reign, and the gaming industry.

“Science and Mathematics are unlike other subjects. There is always something new and research is done constantly. The results are put forth in English.

“We don’t have enough scientific experts fluent in the Malay and English languages to translate the thousands of research papers done in English,” he said.

“Can Nik Aziz introduce one Malay individual who studied Science in only the Malay language who is capable of writing a paper or understanding writings pertaining to nano science or the theory of relativity or the calculations involved in sending a space shuttle to the international space station?” he added.

Conceding that gaming and alcohol were forbidden in Islam, Mahathir however asked Nik Aziz to demand his “close friend” DAP to state that Pakatan Rakyat would ban gaming and alcohol if it formed the federal government, as well as accept Hudud laws.

Mahathir, who acknowledged that Nik Aziz possessed a deep understanding of Islam, urged the veteran leader not to abuse the religion for political purposes.

Calling on Nik Aziz to repent, Mahathir advised the former to stop confusing the Muslims just to win elections and reiterated his warning that all would be judged in the hereafter.