Hundreds of Muslims gathered in front of church to protest after a frenzy of text messages claimed that hundreds of Muslims were going to convert. Instead the fateful ceremony was the first communion of Catholic children. Mufti Harussani Zakaria claims a woman had warned him of the imminent ceremony and he felt he was duty-bound to remind Muslims of the threats facing Islam today.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – After a meeting with the sultan of Perak, a Malaysian state where a Catholic church falsely accused of baptising Muslims was besieged by a Muslim mob, Harussani Zakaria, the local mufti, said a woman was behind the rumour that led to the incident. His only fault, in his words, was to have fulfilled his duty of reminding "Muslims of the threats facing Islam today the threats that now Islam faces", The Star daily reported this morning.

On November 5 some 110 Catholic children were set to receive their first Holy Communion in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Silibin when a mob of 300 people surrounded the building after they learnt via text-messaging that a group of Muslims was going to be baptised there.

Mufti Harussani said that on October 21 a woman, a former student at al-Azhar University in Cairo who had converted to Christianity and then returned to Islam, sent him a text message in which she claimed that a group of Muslims was going to be baptised at a church. The message provided date and place.

The mufti then met the woman who brought along documents and material purportedly showing that hundreds of ethnic Malays were soon to convert.

He said he raised his concerns over the allegations with representatives of Muslim non-governmental organisations at the state mosque in Perak on November 2. He also said he handed all the information over to the police and the Special Branch for investigation.

However, he explained: "What I revealed was meant to stay within the confines of the meeting. I did not know that those present would pass the word around".

"It was never my intention to create chaos. [But] as mufti, I have the responsibility to remind Muslims of the threats facing Islam today," he added.  

Harussani, who made his deposition before the police on November 5, denied claims that he was the author of the SMS that led to the incident at the church.

Now police is investigating the case to determine the veracity of the mufti's statement.

• malaysia
• pekar
• rumours
• conversion
• to
• christianity
• mufti