By NNN-Bernama
Kuala Lumpur : Muslims must stand up to extremists and extremism and must not allow others to define who they are and what they stand for, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak says.
It is sad that today Islam is associated with terrorism, emotional and irrational outbursts, short-term thinking, socio-economic backwardness, totalitarian regimes and a regressive attitude towards women, he said here Thursday in a keynote address to the Malaysian International Islamic University alumni conference held in conjunction with the university’s silver jubilee celebrations.
“It is an image cultivated largely by the tragedy of 9/11, and the subsequent unfortunate events. As such, Muslims are currently living in an environment where truth and rationality have become victims of hysteria and prejudice.”
Najib also lamented that new buzz words had also appeared in the global lexicon of terms. For instance, Islamofascism, an ingenious attempt to equate Islam with fascism, and not withstanding that Islam is the most progressive religion when it comes to matters of race relations.
“It is our refusal to nip things in the bud, to stand up to the extremists and to say to them in no uncertain terms that they neither represent nor embody Islam. This, in the end, is our own great undoing,” he said.
Najib said Muslims must develop “a new stratagem, one that hinges on dislodging extremists and extremism, for they represent blind hatred over truth and reason wholly inconsistent with the message brought by Prophet Muhammad”.
“Blind hatred can lead us to only one road that of destruction and misery,” he said, adding that Muslims also need to say to the extremists that in no uncertain terms that they neither represent nor embody Islam.
“Muslims must therefore seek to right this oversight by galvanising the silent majority to take charge of Islam’s future from the vocal minority,” he said.
Najib also called on Muslim nations to continuously strive to produce a critical mass of quality human capital relevant to all times to progress in this competitive world.
He said they needed “to create a pool of human capital with the right mindset anchored upon a strong faith, possessing the relevant skills, having the right work ethics and driven by an entrepreneurial zeal, willing to scale over seemingly impossible heights”.
“This is one of the two major challenges Muslim nations need to overcome if they want to realize their full potential,” he said.
Najib said the other challenge was to create a conducive environment for national development, which required a mixture of factors, which included world peace, a culture of political stability, responsible and accountable public governance and the creation of hope that a better tomorrow is indeed possible.
“Muslims cannot allow themselves to be lulled by a misplaced sense of contentment induced by the nostalgia of our glorious past. For to do so will mean the deterioration of our resilience as Muslims,” he said.
Najib said it was an undeniable fact that Islam had pioneered a new era of enlightment for mankind, marked by the great achievements as manifested by the Abbasid, Umayyad, Andalusia and Otthmaniyah empires.
“We were then the beacon and standard bearer of the civilized world, saving Europe from the abyss of the Dark Ages into the golden era of enlightment,” he added.