Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accused Utusan Malaysia of publishing an erroneous report, which quoted him as branding state religious leaders (mufti) as “kafir” or infidels.

In an open letter, the Pakatan Harapan chairperson claimed that the Umno-owned daily was aware that he did not make such a remark.

“But as a government-owned media, Utusan needs to give a wrong interpretation (of his remarks) to save itself,” he said, calling on the daily to publish his letter in full.

Mahathir's criticism of the mufti was based on their silence towards PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's amanat (message) in 1981, which the former premier claims served as the catalyst for the Memali incident four years later.

Recalling his speech during the Bersatu AGM last week in the letter, the former premier said he had mentioned that “if the mufti did not reject the allegation made by PAS or Hadi's amanat that Muslims who cooperate with non-Muslims are considered kafir, then the mufti themselves become infidels as they do not reject the allegation.”

Mahathir said a mufti is not an ordinary person as he advises both the Malay rulers and the people regarding Islam.

“It is their responsibility to give their opinion on whether the allegation made by PAS or Hadi is true or otherwise. Hadi's amanat was made because of political purposes but what he said could cause Muslims to deviate,” he added in the letter.

Mahathir claimed that since the mufti's lips were pursed on this matter, many Muslims believed Hadi's statement.

This, he said, resulted in children declaring their parents as infidels, people not accepting animals slaughtered by those from Umno, Muslims praying with a different imam and so forth.

The former premier pointed out how the mufti had aired their views on deviant teachings like the Al Arqam and Ayah Pin.

“Utusan had reported all of this before,” he added.

Mahathir said while the mufti should never engage in politics, they, however, must intervene when Islam is used for political purposes to confuse the people.

“... (Then) it becomes the responsibility of the mufti to explain whether the political view has its basis in Islam. Until today, there is no explanation made by any mufti (on Hadi's amanat).

“If a person who does not join PAS is labelled an infidel then similarly any mufti who does not join PAS could also be considered as such.

“Is Hadi's amanat then correct, that a mufti who works for an infidel government is also considered infidel?” he asked.

In his amanat, Hadi did not explicitly state that those who do not join PAS are infidels but mentioned that Muslims who do not adopt Islam as a complete way of life, including politics, are infidels.

Meanwhile, Mahathir's lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla in a Facebook posting asked if Utusan had pawned its journalism ethics in order to be a false propaganda tool for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.