MUKTAMAR | PAS has reportedly declared liberal Muslims as a threat to Islam, and vowed to wipe them out at the party muktamar in Alor Setar yesterday.

“They must be wiped out or at least banned, because it will result in the formation of groups among Muslims here who will end up fighting one another,” said PAS deputy spiritual leader Ahmad Yaakob when opening the 56th Ulama wing assembly, according to news site Berita Daily.

He accused liberal Islam of being a Western agenda promoted as an alternative to “extreme Islam” which is being portrayed by media.

Without naming specific individuals, Ahmad said these liberal Muslims had influenced some leaders of the country to the extent they dare not utter terms such as “hudud” or “Islamic nation”.

PAS Ulama chief Mahfodz Mohamed also hit out at liberal Muslims, saying they empowered the proposed amendment to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act on unilateral conversions.

Mahfodz said the rise of liberal Islam among Muslims and some leaders has led to the proposal, which he claimed is against Islam, being made.

“The proposed amendments to the Law Reform Act (LRA) are against Islam and Article 12(4) of the constitution, which allows a parent to convert a child below 18 to Islam,” he said, adding the existing national fatwa (edict) and Federal Court decision allow a unilateral conversion.

The government first tabled the LRA Amendments Bill in Parliament in November 2016, but postponed the second reading early this month to the next parliamentary session.

The bill is touted as a solution to the burgeoning problem of unilateral conversions of children, which has seen long-drawn custody battles between the non-Muslim and converted Muslim parents.