Zaid: Instead of waging jihad, do as the Jews did

Zaid Ibrahim tells Muslims that a better way to defeat the West is by building better economies and wealthier countries.

PETALING JAYA: Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim gave some hard-hitting advice to Muslims and their preachers, saying that a cleverer way to defeat the West and their ideals of freedom of expression was to follow in the footsteps of the Jews.

Zaid said that Jews, rather than wage holy wars and continuously complain about being persecuted throughout history, took it upon themselves to control banking and finance instead while “quietly” controlling media and establishing highly-regarded institutions of higher learning.

He said, “They believed that the West could only be conquered by money and education, and now the Chinese are following the same formula successfully.”

He said this in reference to the recent Paris killings, adding he was sure Muslims leaders would “sugarcoat” their condemnation of it because ultimately they felt “the victims were asking for it”.

“None will condemn the acts unconditionally,” Zaid said although Muslims did have a choice in how they wished to react to constant persecution.

He argued, “Muslims have a choice: to respond to these insults the way Christians, Jews and people of other faiths do—which is to ignore them or to litigate—or they can follow Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram and go all out to kill and destroy.”

He blamed Muslim leaders and preachers for conditioning the minds of other Muslims with “outdated teachings” that emphasised on “killling and defending their faith” rather than of living with others of different religions and values, in peace and harmony.

“Muslims must remember they live in a world that allows freedom of expression for individuals.

“In the West, they take personal freedom seriously, just as PAS leaders in Kelantan take hudud seriously,” Zaid said, adding, “…the West has this crazy belief about freedom of expression and individual rights” that Muslims must learn how to handle with a degree of calm and not by committing atrocities such as they did in Paris, Africa and Pakistan.

He also said, “Muslims must learn to cope with the challenges of the modern world and modern values. I suggest Muslims in Malaysia and elsewhere be willing to grow up and learn to live with this imperfect world in harmony with others.”

Saying it was time to put “anger and emotion” aside, Zaid added, “They can fight those who disagree with them with the Sedition Act and whatever laws they control, but unless Muslims are properly educated and have money and know-how, they will only know how to destroy but not to rebuild.”