KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 -- Former Indonesian president Joko Widodo's recent gesture in raising his hands during the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican City has inadvertently ignited a debate in the Muslim world.

While many agree he was being respectful of a world leader, just as many - including in Malaysia - wondered if it was right for Jokowi to do so as a Muslim leader?

Islamic religious leaders here have also weighed in on the issue, here's what they said.

"Muslims are not allowed to say RIP to non-Muslim deceased," local preacher Syed Mohd Bakri Syed Ishak who goes by the moniker PU Syed told Sinar Harian today, using the initialism for Rest in Peace.

Citing from Surah At-Taubah, verse 113, he said RIP is considered a form of ...