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Shame on you, says Zaid to scholars silent in socks debacle

FMT Reporters

-24 Mar 2024, 11:29 PM

The former MP says there are few Muslim academics like Tajuddin Rasdi who have the strength and conviction of a true Muslim to speak the truth.

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Former minister Zaid Ibrahim described university professor Tajuddin Rasdi as ‘an excellent proponent of compassionate Islam’.

PETALING JAYA: Former Kota Bharu MP Zaid Ibrahim has taken aim at Muslim academics who have been silent over the reactions to the “Allah” socks issue, lamenting a lack of compassion over the controversy.

Zaid said Islam, as taught by Prophet Muhammad, was a compassionate and merciful religion.

“All other varieties, including those shown by the people in this Madani government in the socks fray, are not true Islam,” he said in a posting on X (formerly Twitter).

“Unfortunately, we still have thousands of the so-called scholars whose salaries are paid by the people yet keep their mouths shut. Are they not ashamed of themselves?” he said.

The former minister lauded Tajuddin Rasdi of UCSI University for being “an excellent proponent of compassionate Islam”, citing the academic’s explanation on Friday of how Prophet Muhammad forgave his enemies and dealt with those who insulted him.

“I am proud we have a Malay intellectual like Tajuddin who has the strength and conviction of a true Muslim to speak the truth. Unfortunately, there are so few like him,” said Zaid, a former law minister.

Tajuddin and former Umno MP Tawfik Ismail, in a statement on Friday, had slammed the Umno Supreme Council for giving youth wing chief Dr Akmal Saleh its full backing over his actions in response to the “Allah” socks issue.

Akmal has repeatedly called for a boycott of the KK Mart chain after socks bearing the word “Allah” were discovered in a shop in Bandar Sunway. The factory that supplied the socks has temporarily ceased operations, while KK Mart’s management has issued an apology over the fiasco.

Tawfik and Tajuddin called for all parties to wait for the outcome of investigations into the matter and for the appropriate punishment on those at fault to be decided by the authorities, not Umno.

They also urged Malaysians to ignore Akmal’s call to boycott KK Mart convenience stores over the issue. They were later joined by 21 others from civil society who signed the statement.