Cops, religious bodies monitoring controversial Algerian ‘preacher’

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian authorities are keeping an eye on an Algerian “preacher”, Mawla Muhammad Amin al-Idrisi, who claims to be a descendant of Prophet Muhammad.

This comes after his talks about Maulidul Rasul gained popularity online, sparking controversy over his ancestral claims, as reported by Bernama.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said police and religious bodies are monitoring Mawla’s activities to ascertain their religious nature and legality.

No formal complaints have been lodged against him to date.

Mawla, who entered Malaysia on a French passport using a social visit pass, can stay in the country for up to 90 days.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain also said that police were monitoring Mawla and his followers’ movements.

They were also keeping tabs on a madrasah that was operating in Selangor.

On a separate matter, Saifuddin clarified that three NGO members, previously flagged by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Centre, were found to have no ties to terrorism based on the Malaysian police’s records of 359 individuals from 53 NGOs participating in Ops Ihsan.

He said identity checks had been conducted on all the individuals before they participated in the humanitarian operation.

This operation was focused on delivering humanitarian aid from Malaysia to Palestine.

A leaked letter which went viral on social media revealed that the Foreign Affairs Ministry had notified Ops Ihsan of the three men’s status on the FBI’s list.

Chairman of the Ops Ihsan secretariat, Jismi Johari, confirmed they received the ministry’s letter dated Feb 15.

Jismi also said the three men had limited involvement and exposure to the humanitarian operation.