[2] Mohd Asri was educated at the religious secondary school Al-Irsyad in Seberang Perai, Penang, and furthered his study at the Islamic College Klang.

Known by the public as Dr. Maza (an acronym for his own name, Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin) and his Islamic nickname as Abu Talhah Al-Malizi, he is popular among the young who follow his blog, Minda Tajdid and in columns on Malay newspapers.

Mohd Asri's books reflect his concerns about what he considers to be fanaticism in madhhabs (schools of jurisprudence), criticism of Hadith fabrications, and condemnation of Shiism and some Sufi practices.

Unlike the perception that associates Salafism with rigidity, conservatism, and extremism in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Asri believes in the Salafi brand of “Sunnah Perlis,” emphasizing the freedom from madhhab rigidity that calls upon Muslims to return directly to the two major sources of Islam in dealing with religious issues, namely, the Qurʾan and Sunnah.

Mohd Asri can be characterized as a moderate scholar who urges Muslims to practice more than one madhhab simultaneously within Sunni Islamic doctrine, namely the Hanbali, Shafiʿi, Maliki, and Hanafi schools.