Founder was a terrorist but school preaches peace

Class in session: Ustaz Mohd Khairul Nazeri Mat Salleh (right) conducting a class at Madrasah Nurul Hidayah in Kuala Ketil, Kedah.

SUNGAI PETANI: The grounds of Madrasah Nurul Hidayah, a Muslim boarding school with 180 students, about 30km from here, is peaceful. But one bleak point in its history haunts the school.

One of its founders is the late Ustaz Mohd Lotfi Ariffin, a man who left the country to join militants fighting in Syria and died there on Sept 14, 2014.