A group of young ulama (religious scholars) who recently joined Umno has made several suggestions to the party on ways to strengthen the religion and Muslims.

Spokesperson for the group Fathul Bari Mat Jahaya said last night's meeting with Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin was fruitful, where they decided to propose the concept of ‘Islam for All' as the first step.

"The result is positive as our efforts to propagate the religion was welcomed by Khairy. We will have follow-up meetings after this," said Fathul, who is the son of former Perlis mufti Mat Jahaya Yussin.

Fathul, a graduate from Madinah (in Saudi Arabia) and Jordan, said the meeting was an introductory session to familiarise themselves with Umno's organisational structure.

He dismissed suggestions that their proposed ‘Islam for All' concept was aimed at countering the Opposition Islamist party's `PAS for All' platform.

"We wanted to portray that Islam is not only for Muslims or a certain race," he said.

Another cleric, Fadlan Mohd Osman, who led the group in submitting their membership forms to party president Najib Abdul Razak on June 25, said it is possible that a special bureau may be set up for this purpose.

"All this is at the initial stage, and we will prepare the working papers for it to be submitted to Umno Youth and the parent body for consideration," he said.

Conned into coming claim

Meanwhile, in a related development, a young cleric, Mohd Hosni Mubarak Abdul Hamid, who was present at the press conference where 40 young ulama who joined Umno last Friday, claimed that he was tricked into attending the function.

Speaking to Malaysiakini yesterday, he said that he was invited by an Umno cleric to attend a dinner with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at a hotel for graduates from Jordan.

"I parked my car at the Legend Hotel car park and was received by someone who then escorted me to the PWTC building," he explained.

shahidan group at putrajaya 140308 shahidan kassim Upon arrival, they were greeted by (Umno supreme council member and former Perlis menteri besar) Shahidan Kassim ( at centre in photo ), he said.

"We were then instructed to line up and wait for the prime minister to arrive," he said.

Only after Shahidan made the announcement and introduced the ulama who had joined Umno, did it dawn on Hosni the real purpose of the event.

"If I had known this, I would not have attended. I was tricked into coming," said the 27-year-old, who is also a teacher.

He also disputed allegations that he had came uninvited and that he only came because he wanted to meet Najib.

"Its not true that I was uninvited as I thought that this was an event with the prime minister for graduates from Jordan.

Hosni claimed that four other ulama were also "invited" in similar fashion into attending the event.