Mat Sabu denies Syiah links; Zahid calls for 'action'

PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has denied an accusation that he was a follower of Syiah teachings, a 'deviant' movement banned in Malaysia.

Mohamad, or Mat Sabu, was responding to the accusation made earlier today by Home Minister and UMNO vice president Datuk Seri Zahid Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

"I am a Muslim and follower of the Sunnah Wal Jama’ah,” said Mat Sabu when contacted by Astro AWANI.

Mat Sabu was contacted after he visited flood victims in Kuantan. He was on his way to the KLIA airport to leave the country.

Zahid’s remark was the first time this allegation against Mat Sabu has been made public, although the rumour has been circulating among PAS and UMNO members as well as political observers for some time.

Right after the 13th General Election, accusations that there were PAS leaders who were secretly Syiah followers surfaced.

However, this was vehemently denied by PAS leaders, who said that a good relationship with Iranian or Islamic movements such as the Hizbullah did not mean its leaders followed the Syiah doctrine.

In his winding up speech at the 2013 UMNO general assembly today, the Home Minister had asked the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia(JAKIM) to take action against Mat Sabu.

“We know who is a Syiah leader in PAS,” said Zahid to the cheers by the delegates, who asked “who? who?” Zahid then responded with:”We are perplexed as to how PAS can place that leader as the number two of the party.”

"We give full power to Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom (Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, in charge of religious affairs) to take action against the PAS number two," he reportedly said.

Mat Sabu was recently re-elected as PAS deputy president, defeating his challenger Datuk Mohd. Amar Nik Abdullah with a slim 98-majority vote.

Zahid also called on PAS to work together with the government to clamp down on the dangers of Syiah teachings, which he claimed was a threat to national security.

He said that this was a national issue that transcended political boundaries.

The Syiah movement was officially banned in a fatwa by the National Fatwa Committee in 1996. It is considered a deviant movement that goes against the tenets of Sunnah wal Jamaah, the dominant Islamic ideology in Malaysia.

The Home Ministry also recently rejected the application for by the Malaysian Syiah Council, which had attempted to register itself under the Registrar of Societies.

Zahid also also warned that the Islamic authorities would take stern action against any of the Shi'ites who perform teaching, including seizure of the premises where the work is done.

"I do not look at this in terms of faith, this comes under Jamil as a minister of religion. I see it in terms of security because we do not want the destruction of the community by their false teaching," he said.

He then proposed the establishment of a commission formed to address heresy to combat not only the teachings of the Shia but of other sects and cults.

Ahmad Zahid also told delegates that the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Medina agreed to the proposal raised at the General Assembly so that the teachings of Ahli Sunnah Wal Jama'ah are included in the definition of Islam in the Federal Constitution.