Being a Muslim in Singapore Series 3 (Siri Muslim Warga Singapura 3)

Module Description

Among the pertinent characteristics of communal living in Singapore is its cultural, ethnical and religious diversity that exist among its citizens.

This characteristic is expected to be continuous. In fact, observers predict that Singapore’s level of diversity will increase and become more complex in times to come. The reason for such is due to globalisation and economic demands which in turn pave ways for non-Singaporeans to emigrate to Singapore.

Besides that, the world has become more open as a result of the advance in info-communication technology which exposes Singaporean Muslims to various form of diversity and this includes religious diversity.

Various overseas incidents such as the conflicts happening in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Palestine as well as the emergence of extremist groups such as IS and Al-Qaeda also pose challenges and affect the inter-religious relationship among mankind.

The negative implications arising from the challenges can be observed in other countries in the form of relationship tensions between Muslims and the non-Muslims, the increase in Islamophobia-related incidents, the movement of anti-immigrants who are of different belief from the citizens and other acts which are based on the sentiments of anti non-Muslims and anti-West.

One of the important initiatives –be it at the local or global platform- in addressing the challenges faced by the relationship between religions is to encourage efforts in initiating dialogues and interactions with the non-Muslims. This is done with the intention to foster mutual understanding and to eliminate prejudice between one another.

At the national level, there are IRCC groups at the grassroots’ level which involve the local Islamic bodies and mosques whereby their role is to establish relationship between the Muslims and the non-Muslims in the form of initiating inter-faith dialogues and social interaction.

Even though the situation in Singapore is not as bad if compared to other foreign countries, proactive approaches which are based on Islamic principle should be taken to guide the Singaporean Muslims’ community in understanding and having the right attitude in facing these challenges so that conflicts will not be ignited which will then destruct the harmonious life that Singapore has to offer.

In fact, such efforts have started and been undertaken with the establishment of Harmony Centre by MUIS which is centred at An-Nahdhah Mosque.

Various activities have been conducted since the establishment of this centre and the centre has received praises from various parties –be it local or international- for its commendable efforts.

It has become the icon of commitment and constructive contribution by the Singaporean Muslims in realising social harmony and positive inter-religious relationship.

Nevertheless, there is still a lot more that can be done such as efforts taken in socializing the idea of the importance of dialogues in order to foster positive relationship between Muslims and non-Muslim of all ages.

Surely as a Muslim, this must be done with the guidance of the Islamic principles itself and not merely based on blind following of the current trends or due to external pressure.

Based on the background mentioned above and to fulfil the objective of socializing inter-faith dialogues among the various groups within the Singaporean Muslims’ community as well as to instil awareness and understanding that inter-faith dialogue does have a basis in Islam and that it can be coordinated as long as it is guided by Islamic principles, the module is then developed and offered to the targeted audience of the ADIL MUIS' program.

Generally, this module will help in instilling understanding among the participants that Islam advocates its believers to firstly mould a positive attitude towards believers of other religions although there are differences in terms of the main principles that they have. Islam also encourages inter-faith dialogues with the non-Muslims whereby the dialogues shall be guided by certain specific principles.

This understanding is then strengthened with examples of inter-faith dialogues that have been conducted which had garnered utmost support from the contemporary scholars.

As the issue of inter-faith dialogues is usually linked to the issue of freedom of religion, this module shall also discuss on the contemporary scholars’ stance on the freedom to embrace a particular religion, which also comprises of the ruling of a Muslim who denounces his faith in order to embrace other religions; taking into consideration the Singapore’s context.

Module Objectives

This module aims to achieve the following learning objectives:

• To understand Islam’s fair stance on the efforts taken in initiating inter-faith dialogues according to the Singapore’s context.

• To be able to clearly state the juristic evidences which advocate having a positive attitude towards inter-faith dialogues which are widely initiated in Singapore.

• To instil a positive attitude towards efforts in realizing inter-faith dialogues in Singapore.

Module Outline (4 hours)

In this 4-credit hours' course, students will be covering the following topics:

Definition of inter-faith dialogue and its objectives.

• Juristic evidences on the permissibility of initiating and conducting inter-faith dialogues.

• The rational argument supporting the importance of inter-faith dialogues.

• The fundamental principles in conducting inter-faith dialogues.

• “A Common World” initiative which has received support from scholars all over the world.

• Inter-faith dialogues in Singapore.

• The contemporary perspective of Islam’s stance on the issue of freedom of religion and apostasy.

Payment should be made directly to the mosque.