Islamic party PAS sees nothing wrong in Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar's "no compulsion in religion" statement and went on to slam Umno for its ‘champion of the faith' theatrics.

NONE"Nurul Izzah has explained what she meant after the controversy arose, when she said that if a person has embraced Islam, he or she must follow Islamic laws," PAS central working committee member Idris Ahmad said.

"Why is Umno continuing to make a fuss? What she did is in keeping with the saying that returning to the truth is better than remaining in lies."

Idris, who is also PAS outreach director, expressed his "glee" in seeing Umno leaders trying to be champions of Islam for he believes that the party has strayed from the faith.

"When Umno tries to portray itself as a champion of Islam, all right-thinking people will laugh and grin with cynicism.

"Do they have the standing to speak and act as a champion of the faith?" he wondered aloud.

Appalling statements

idris ahmad pas information chiefIdris (right) said that Nurul's adherence to the faith was a far cry from those Umno leaders who had spewed appalling statements with regard to Islam, but refused to retract them after being proven wrong.

He pointed to previous accounts of statements by the Malay party's leaders, which he alleged were "dangerous to the faith".

These included their criticism of hudud, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's assertion that even angels make mistakes and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak poking fun at the "qiamullail syndrome" (special early morning prayer) when he was education minister.

"Umno acts as the champion of the faith just to fish for support from the Muslims," lamented Idris.