Dr. Mahathir Mohamad - Prime Minister of Malaysia

The national religion for Malaysia is Islam, as enshrined in its constitution. The Malays knew no religion other than Islam. Preaching to them is officially not encouraged. Non-Malays made up less than 40% of the population. One can find churches in towns and Christians can worship freely. From time to time, churches in outlining areas do get torched, especially when there is a political struggle between the different Muslim fractions.

Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad told more than 3,000 government, corporate and religious leaders in the World Economic Forum in New York (2002); Today, 'political ulamas' were only interested in parts of the Quran that seemingly supported their political views. They were backward in most fields of learning, including knowledge of Islam. The forum is an annual gathering of corporate and political leaders, usually held in Davos, Switzerland. But the venue was changed to New York as a gesture of solidarity after the terrorist attacks.

April 16, 2002 Dr Mahathir Mohamad was on a three-day visit to Morocco. In his address on Enhancing the Image of Islam to about 300 Moroccan Islamic intellectuals, think tanks and parliamentarians. Tracing a bit of history, the Prime Minister said Muslim nations missed the Industrial Revolution because they were suspicious of the products of industry. It was difficult to imagine how, for a long time, Muslims did not allow the Quran to be printed nor allow mosques to be lit up. Till today some religious scholars even refused to believe that man had landed on the moon. Because of wrong beliefs the Muslims had failed to develop and benefit from the advances of modern industry. Now the world was going through the Information Revolution and it looked like the Muslims were going to miss out again.

"Some of us try to recreate the environment of 1,400 years ago because we believe that we can live the life of true Muslims by so doing. We are actually denigrating Islam by inferring that Islam is suitable for life in that period only. Islam is for all times. Islam is as suitable today as it was when the Prophet was alive."

So today despite the 1.3 billion Muslims in this world, they lived at the mercy of others. Muslims today could be terrorised with impunity by just about anybody. They could do nothing beyond appealing to - the non-Muslim world - to intervene and stop their misery. Many nations were paying the price for neglecting to acquire knowledge other than religious knowledge. "As Muslims we must know our religion and must study it. We must understand enough not to deviate. But must all of us be experts in religion and nothing else?. Allah has given us much wealth already. All that is needed is for us to use this wealth prudently."

Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he noticed that Muslim countries were backward and he was curious how a great and ascending religion could suddenly collapse. "After much study, it became obvious to me that the collapse came about because of the Muslims’ rejection of any form of knowledge other than Islamic knowledge. Scholars too were coming up with their own interpretations of Islam. They said Muslims could neglect other studies but not religious studies. This eventually led to a lack of knowledge in Science and Mathematics and the weakening of the ummah." Elaborating on this stand on terrorism, the Prime Minister said: "When Palestinians became suicide bombers, it is a justified action as their land had been occupied by Israelis and were doing so in defence of their country. This should be the definition of terrorism."

April 21, 2002 Dr Mahathir Mohamad said a period of fear of knowledge descended on the Muslim world after the European Renaissance. Knowledge not related to religious law, in particular to the creed and practice of Islam, was not only discouraged but prohibited. The knowledge obtained from the old non-Muslim civilisation was proscribed and regarded as haram. Muslim intellectuals avoided knowledge outside the religion to the extent that the great Muslim mathematicians, scientists, geographers and navigators were ignored. There is now not a single Muslim nation among the developed countries. They were all developing nations dependent on the charity of non-Muslims. He said in his keynote address titled The Power of Knowledge in the New Era at the 31st International Conference of International Federation of Training and Development Organisations Ltd at MANAMA (Bahrain). More than 1,000 people, including international Muslim intellectuals, attended the conference.

May 7, 2002 - Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said: "I am ashamed that many among Muslims and non-Muslims have made fun of the OIC, saying that it stands for 'Oh, I see'. Instead of blaming God's will for their misfortune, it was time the Muslim world owned up to its own deficiencies. If it is all the will of Allah, why do Muslims struggle at all? Why do they explode bombs on their bodies and why do they crash aircraft into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing themselves and many innocent people, some of whom are not even their declared enemies?' He said this in a keynote speech at the Seventh Conference of Ministers of Endowment and Islamic Affairs. Dr Mahathir will hold the chair of the OIC for two years from next year.

October 04, 2002 Speaking to reporters after opening the Muslim World and Malay World convention in Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that oil was the only thing that Muslim nations had which was needed by the world and they had the power to determine the price and supply of the commodity worldwide. "If they know how to wield this power, other people will not be so oppressive. But the problem is they (Muslim countries) quarrel among themselves and when one party wants to cut supply, another party will increase it. As a result, they have not been able to use this power to their advantage."