KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Narrow-mindedness and ignorance among Muslims are their most dangerous enemies, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He said Muslims also faced danger from enemies of Islam that try to influence them to stray from the right path of the religion.

He said such characteristics could lead to a rise in extremist behaviour.

"Thus, the role of religious scholars and thinkers is most important to shed the perception of some people who labelled Islam as a religion that advocated terrorism," he said.

Abdullah said a common example of the narrow-minded tendency among Muslims was their insistence in interpreting Islam according to their own ignorant viewpoints.

"The situation is aggravated when these kind of people cannot see that physical development for the people's benefit is also part of Islamic teachings.

"They reject such development and argue that it is a creation of the enemies of Islam intent on swaying the faith of fellow Muslims," he said at the opening of the third World Multaqa (conference) of Al-Azhar University Alumni yesterday.

Abdullah, who is Organisation of the Islamic Conference chairman, urged leaders and scholars to increase their cooperation to help formulate policies that would create Muslims of distinction.

Abdullah and the Grand Imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque, Dr Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, also attended a question-and-answer session with the media.

To a question, Dr Sheikh Muhammad said it was acceptable for a person to become a suicide bomber if the target was the enemy of his country intent on causing chaos.

"However, to kill innocent men, women and children is wrong and should not be accepted," he added.

On the controversy created by a Danish newspaper which published caricatures of the Prophet, he said Muslim representatives from the Western countries met him.

He said they had asked for cooperation from Muslims from the rest of the world to refrain from getting angry and emotional.

"They said that negative reaction to the issue will not help them in explaining to the Western governments about the real issue and getting the West to understand more about Islam," he added.