Malaysia brushes aside 'division of ummah' allegations

ANKARA

Malaysia’s foreign minister criticized on Friday those who were accusing the country of “dividing the Muslim ummah” by organizing the Kuala Lumpur Summit this week.

“When Malaysia wanted to organize the KL Summit, some people accused us of dividing the Muslim ummah, but it is 'okay' to bomb or impose sanctions on other countries,” Malaysia’s The Star Online quoted Saifuddin Abdullah as saying.

Speaking during a special session at the summit which continues on its third day, Abdullah said: “Among the ummah, we have countries who are involved in shadow wars on behalf of superpowers, or creating proxy wars on behalf of others.”

“We have countries among the Muslim ummah who bully smaller countries, who unilaterally impose sanctions on other countries, or attack or bomb Muslim countries,” he added.

Abdullah added that Muslims are faced with issues like racism, politics of race, and the rise of supremacist ideologies.

Muslim world leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani gathered at the summit where a host of issues were discussed.

Saudi Arabia and its ally UAE shunned the event for trying to create a parallel Muslim bloc.

Pakistan earlier this week pulled out of the summit citing concerns by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi that the event could trigger "division of the Muslim ummah".