Live up to Islamic teachings, Muslims urged 
Malaysiakini
Sep 30, 2006

The prime minister has called on Muslims to live up to the teachings of Islam as it will provide a strong base and shield for them to avoid the wrong sayings and perceptions of the non-Muslims about Islam.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the wrong perceptions and sayings of non-Muslims about Islam today were because the Muslim themselves were not living up to the teachings of the religion, a Bernama report said.

"Because we have not adhered faithfully to the teachings of Allah, we are not doing as well as Islam would want us to," he said during an interactive session with 22 members of the diplomatic corps of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries based in Malaysia.

The session hosted by Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was followed by a breaking of fast before the Maghrib, Isyak and Tarawih prayers.

Unity and peace

Abdullah said that while Muslim nations were championing efforts to achieve world peace and talking about the Muslim and non-Muslim conflicts, at the same time they must realise that within the Ummah there were also problems which restricted unity and peace among themselves.

He said sectarian conflicts among the Ummah were very fierce and there were also conflicts among Muslim countries which were not easily resolved nowadays.

"We don't seem to be united in facing common threats," he said.

The premier said that on the one hand Muslim countries wanted peace and unity in Palestine and Iraq but on the other, the strength of Muslims there to achieve that purpose was not there.