Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says Muslims should make the Quran as their only guide on Islam. ― File pic

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 31 ― The Quran should be the sole reference on Islam for Muslims, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

In his keynote address at the International Islamic Forum (IIF) here, the country’s longest-serving PM said the religious text should take precedence over interpretations by clerics and religious scholars, which he complained have turned Islam into an exacting and inflexible faith.

“If we go by the teachings of all teachers of Islam, none of us would qualify as Muslims,” Dr Mahathir said.

“Islam is not rigid. The Quran provides answers to all the problems we face now, but it has to be seen differently and not paralysed with the way were are taught to,” he added.

He said that the opinions and interpretations of the religious class are at times incorrect, citing examples from his youth that later proved to be untrue.

This included prohibitions against electric power at mosques and the transportation of Muslim corpses on automobiles.

“Of course we laugh now, but at that time people took it seriously,” he said.

Dr Mahathir said that Islam was now being hampered by scholars and preachers intolerant of other view of the religion apart from theirs, even labelling dissenters as heretics and apostates.

“If we are not going to question them and keep accepting them, the Muslims will find themselves unable to find their footing in the present world,” he added.

He said that he is also certain that if the Muslims were to continue following “accepted interpretations”, the already troubled Muslim world will continue to “shrink” as Muslims start rejecting Islam.

Dr Mahathir said that Muslims are also often swayed into participating in jihadist violence against fellow Muslims, with promises of martyrdom.

“How can it be jihad when one is killing another fellow Muslim? Killing fellow Muslims will land you in hell not heaven,” he said, adding that the knowledge of Islam among Muslims was currently shallow.

The Bloomberg news service previously reported that as many as 40 Malaysians are currently fighting for the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria, with some saying that the jihad was mandated by the Prophet Muhammad.

Dr Mahathir said that if Muslim world will remain troubled until it accepts the need to reform itself of past missteps.

The former prime minister has previously lashed out at the Muslim clergy class, penning a scathing blog post in February accusing the group of dividing Muslims in Malaysia for worldly and political gains.

He had then also questioned Muslims who prioritised the Hadith over Quranic teachings, and who consequently advocate the violent and cruel punishments prescribed in the Hadith.

Hadith ― the collection of Prophet Muhammad’s deeds and sayings ― were collected and documented by scholars in the 9th century after they were previously passed down orally for over 200 years.

Islamic scholars have used Hadith as basis for the Islamic code of law and an essential complement to the Quran, despite contradictions to Quranic teachings.

“Go back to the Quran and interpret it correctly,” he said today.