Muslims should look within for the causes of Islamophobia says Dr M
PAKISTAN: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pointed out that Muslims should look for factors from within the Muslim society that contributed to the spread of Islamophobia instead of just blaming critics.
“Have we done anything to deserve that kind of name?” he posed a question during an interview with PTV World in Pakistan.
“If we want to make Islam less hated, we need to find out what wrong we have done, although we would like to say we have done no wrong,” said the 94-year-old on Islamophobia.
The interview was conducted during his three-day working visit to Pakistan.
He also added that Muslims should publicise their good behavior and end their bad habits.
“We need people who talk sense and who can tell (others) what Islam is all about,” he said, adding that Islam teaches Muslims not to fight nor to kill each other.
“Islam teaches its followers not to indulge in violence but “we are not following those teachings”, he said, in the interview that is available on Youtube.
He also urged Muslims to explain about Islam via the Internet.
On the issue of Malaysia – Pakistan defence cooperation, he said that Muslim countries generally are dependent on other countries for their own defence systems.
“They are always dependent on importing or buying their weapons from other countries. Because of that, they become dependent on these countries for the defence of their countries.”
He said countries should have their own defence weapons but that requires a huge volume, noting that Malaysia only has a small population of 32 million compared to Pakistan’s 200 million.
“If you add together, the market becomes bigger and therefore the need becomes bigger to go into industries that require huge investments,” he said.
