SINGAPORE, April 1 — Amid concerns over growing Islamophobia in some parts of the world, religious teacher Nurul Farhana Mohamed Fadilah recalled how some of her students told her recently that they were afraid of being seen as “terrorists” by their non-Muslim peers for attending religious classes at the mosque.

Farhana, assistant head of the madrasah unit at Assyakirin Mosque near Boon Lay, said her students, aged 15 to 18, come from a secular educational background and do not “have access to 24/7 Islamic education that (full-time) madrasah students have”.

“They always wonder, ‘What if I say this to the others, will they see me as a terrorist?’” said the 25-year-old.

The topic of Islamophobia has been in the local spotlight recently, with Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Wednesday reiterating his concerns that any rise in negative attitudes towards Muslims in Singapore poses a significant risk not only to the Muslim community but to the nation as a whole. 

Farhana believes that eliminating Islamophobia is a “two-way process, whereby more open dialogues between Muslims and non-Muslims can be done”.

“It’s impossible for us to destroy stereotypes in a short time but it’s possible through little things that we do, such as educating the young about the importance of values and opening our doors to more dialogues with other races”, she said.

Another religious teacher, Mr Muhammad Zahid Zain, 32, believes Singaporeans of various faiths need to understand each other’s religious obligations and practices.

Apart from having dialogues, Zahid feels people from different religions should also develop some social programmes together “to achieve some psychological upliftment” and to include some spiritual values in their practices.

Liyana Musfirah Anwar believes that  Muslims themselves have to play “a bigger role” in combating Islamophobia".

“Although there are so many things going on around our religion at the moment, as long as you do the right thing, follow the religion and show a good example, eventually all the negativity will stop and things will get better,” said the 23-year-old religious teacher.

All three religious teachers, or asatizahs, were participants of the Advanced Asatizah Executive Development Programme conducted by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. The programme trains them to understand strategic approaches to religious thinking in the context of Singapore.

Along with 22 other asatizahs, the three received certificates from Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim, following his closed-door dialogue session with them at the Singapore Islamic Hub in Braddell yesterday.

Dr Yaacob, who is also Minister for Communications and Information, believes that religious leaders here should “enthuse in the young the curiosity to engage all races” since “we don’t live in isolation”.

“Our role as religious leaders is also to explain the social context... about understanding how Muslims and non-Muslims can live together side-by-side in peace and harmony... ”

“We live in a multi-racial society. We are living in HDB flats... How do we ensure that we live together? The best way is to get to know one another...

“Integration is a two-way process (where) everybody must make the effort.” — TODAY