Social Media Used to Tarnish Image of Islam
"We find that some isolated issues are often played up to tarnish the image of Islam, and religious institutions, heads of religious departments, muftis, and Muslim intellectuals are subjected to character assassination," he was quoted as saying by Bernama on Thursday.
It was part of a statement circulated in conjunction with the meeting of the main committee of the Islamic Consultative Council at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
Zahid chaired the meeting, which was also attended by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) director-general Othman Mustapha, and PAS spiritual leader Haron Din.
Zahid said that though the efforts of religious authorities were seen as able to stem the flow of false news, the dissemination of negative news continued unabated.
As such, he called for wider propagation of Islamic missionary information through the Internet to match the dissemination via the traditional media as a counter-move.
He reasoned that the conveying of missionary information over the Internet enabled the message to be carried across borders and to reach all people.
"In this way, the various needs of Muslims can be conveyed in accordance with current preferences suitable to Islamic teachings."
He said missionaries should take it as a challenge and preach to eliminate this attitude among the people, either through the mass media, electronic media, or social media.
Zahid, who is also the home minister, said the use of new media in Islam should place more emphasis on the concept of devotion and piety and making Islam the way of life.
