Home Ministry claims Mat Sabu is Syiah adherent

The Home Ministry confirmed that the "PAS number two" whom Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently claimed was a Syiah adherent, was indeed the party’s deputy president Mohamad Sabu (pic).

In a media conference Thursday afternoon, ministry secretary-general Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohamad Radzi said the confirmation was based on 10 information outlined by the ministry, including a statement from Mohamad himself.

One of the supposed influencing factor was that Mohamad or Mat Sabu, had once urged Muslims to emulate the Iranian Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini, known as Imam Khomeini, in the former’s writing “Teladan Pemerintahan Nabi Yusof, Khomeini” in the Harakah’s Fikrah column published on July 5 to 15, 2008.

“According to an interview by ministry assistant secretary (Security Division) Zamihan Mat Zain with local Islamic leader Dr Abdul Aziz Hanafi, Mat Sabu had once recited an invocation as how a Syiah follower would, at a PAS ceramah session at Madrasah Diniah in Arau, Perlis in 2005,” Abdul Rahim said.

He said, Mat Sabu had also expressed his admiration with the leadership and struggle of the 1979 Iranian Revolution leader Khomeini whose approach he adopted when delivering his speech as PAS deputy president on July 13, 2011.

The former Kuala Kedah MP had also openly praised Lebanon Syiah secretary-general Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, even admitting that he and his wife had met with the latter about four to five times.

Abdul Rahim said, Mat Sabu had also apparently visited a Syiah mosque in Kampung Aluar Wilayah Satun in the south of Thailand and called on several Syiah leaders there in 2011.

Mat Sabu, he said, had also allegedly attended classes conducted by a Syiah religious teacher several times in Bukit Merah in Semanggol, Perak in 2011.

One ‘tok guru’ witness had also purportedly claimed that he once saw Mat Sabu performed his prayer with a pebble placed in front of him during prostration – a method synonym with Syiah practice – which could prove that Mat Sabu was a Syiah adherent.

It is noted that in the media conference, Abdul Rahim was reading the details from a statement and did not reply to any questions posed by newsmen.

Meanwhile, to these claims, Mat Sabu did not deny that he did have admiration for Khomeini and Hassan Nasrallah.

He however continued to deny in being a Syiah follower.

“On the claim that I admire Khomeini, I say thank you. I am impressed by his leadership as he is a leader who can get Muslims to stand on their own.

“I’m also impressed by Hassan Nasrallah,” he said in a short statement Thursday.

It is understood that Mat Sabu will elaborate further after meeting his lawyer this Sunday.