Embracing Religious Difference

June | 2018

Nuruljannah Hisham Project Officer, Muis Academy BA, Psychology, IIUM. President, ASSIIUM. Participant, CITC

Attitudes to Non-Muslims Society has become more diverse today with the presence of many nationalities, ethnicities, religions, cultures and beliefs due to globalisation. These differences should be embraced rather than shunned. However, often times, people feel that their identity is threatened by the presence of those who are different from them and because of this there is a tendency to “outcast” them and be exclusive.

Exclusivism and alienating those who do not belong to one’s community happens in many places, between Whites and Blacks; between Muslim Immigrants and non-Muslim citizens and between refugees and local communities. Hate crimes and incidents of racism are often reported in the media. There seems to be a similar phenomenon here among some segments of the Singaporean Muslim community who seem to feel the need to ostracise and negatively label those who may have different beliefs or subscribe to different practices. This orientation creates a chasm between one group and another, made worse by an unwillingness to understand differences and an attitude of damning those who do not belong to the same group.

Such exclusive individuals claim that their vision or ideology are correct and all others are in error.

This is detrimental and can be harmful towards the harmony of the diverse society in Singapore. The mentality to outcast those who are different needs to be avoided and, to do that, our Muslim community needs to be educated to be open and be more accepting of the surrounding communities in order to create mutual understanding and respect.

“Us against Them” Mentality The mind set of negative labelling and ostracising those who do not belong to a certain group leads to an “Us against Them” mentality, where the latter group cannot, or will not, be identified with one’s own group, due to their differences. In the case of Muslims, this mentality means that non-Muslims are usually seen as “Them” and needs to be outcast. Some refuse to eat with them due to different dietary needs, and concerns about their different lifestyle choices. However, there are a few in our community that have taken it as far as viewing them as infidels who are guaranteed damnation. This mind-set can lead one down the slippery slope of treating non-Muslims as the enemies of Muslims as well as God, and because of this it can lead one to justify the use of force on them. This is precisely the agenda of ISIS and therefore the above mentioned mentality may be considered as favourable to their objective.

The term ‘Kafir’ which literally means “one who covers [the truth]” is often used to refer to those who do not believe in God according to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad. It is always translated as “infidel” or disbeliever”. The word

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It is important to embrace differences instead of 'other'-ing those that are different.

The divisive dangers of the ingroup/outgroup mentality are real.

It is important to focus on similarities, deepen understanding and expand the common space to maintain the harmony in our community.

‘kafir’ does not mean and is not synonymous with ‘non-Muslim’.

The Quran does not use the term ‘kafir’ to refer to non-Muslims.

The term for non-Muslim in Arabic is “Ghayr Muslim”. The Quran uses the term ‘Kafir’ or ‘Kuffar’ (the plural of kafir) to refer to two groups: the contemporaries of the Prophet SAW from the Quraysh tribe who rejected his message even after long periods of persuasion, and those who were aggressors against the Prophet as well as his followers.

There are various verses in the Qur’an that refer to nonMuslims by their names and never addressing them as ‘Kafir’ or infidels. For instance, the Qur’an referred to the Byzantines in Surah Ar-Rum and to Abraha as the ‘man of the elephants’ in Surah Al-Fil. Never was the term infidel used to describe them.

This reiterates the importance of context and history in the understanding and usage of qur’anic terms as well as verses.

While damning non-Muslims with the term “Kafir” or infidel is a larger issue, another equally grave concern is how the ostracising mentality exists even among those who share the same faith. Groups like the Shiites are minority groups that are not normally seen to belong to the mainstream Muslim community. However, these minority Muslim groups consist of people who share the same faith, who believe in the oneness of God, and carry out their religious obligations. Yet some of them get their faith denounced by fellow Muslims for their different religious practices and beliefs.

In Surah An-Nisa, verse 94, Allah says: “O you who have believed, when you go forth [to fight] in the cause of Allah, investigate; and do not say to one who gives you [a greeting of] peace "You are not a believer.” Despite this, some mainstream

harmony of our country.

What you choose to practice When certain verses are emphasised over others, this shows that the verses can be misused, to suit certain needs. In the case of disavowing certain groups or condemning them, people tend to justify the use of seemingly antagonistic qur’anic verses when there are in fact other verses that go against such antagonism and are more applicable, especially when seen in the light of the Prophet’s example. This narrow and literal usage of qur’anic verses is one way that some extremist groups use Islam as a front to justify their actions.

The lack of awareness among our Muslim community can be a result of lack of education or refusal to accept anything beyond the meaning of qur’anic verses that they are comfortable and familiar with. This may be why we are so focused on negative labelling and judging others as bad. The focus of our lens should change from judgement to understanding, to learning about the context of certain verses rather than using them as and when it’s convenient to support certain undesirable actions. This stresses the importance of the community understanding the sacred text based on context and supported by knowledge in order to maintain peace and harmony in Singapore.

© Muis Academy 2018

Muslims self-righteously declare the other groups as Kafir. This strict distinction between groups in the form of negative labelling or ostracising happens because of an erroneous desire to draw a clear, strict line between what is wrong and what is right; or rather, who is right or wrong. But this judgement of who is right and who is wrong is not what the Prophet taught.

Who is right?

Does it really matter, who is right and who is wrong? At the end of the day, the question is if such labelling benefits the Muslim community? Ostracising a certain group will only drive them away from one who wants to provide them with guidance.

Hence this attitude will not be of any gain. This ‘you can’t sit with us’ mentality needs to be changed, and fast.

Rather than focusing on who’s right and who’s wrong, the community needs to set aside the differences to focus more on the similarities, like what living as neighbours with non-Muslims means with respect to helping one another despite our religious differences. Rather than quoting the verse, “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day,” (Qur'an, 9:29) why not hold steadfast to the verse “And be good to the neighbour who is your relative and to the neighbour who is not a relative,” (Qur'an, 4:36).

Both verses contain the revelations from God, and neither is wrong. However, to fully understand these verses, Muslims need to carefully examine the context in which the verses were revealed. The former verse was revealed in a time of antagonism between Muslims and those who vehemently and aggressively rejected Islam despite being called to the religion of peace. During that time, there was a need to fight the nonMuslims who were violently persecuting the community and preventing the Prophet from carrying out his mission. The second verse is relevant in today’s day and age where Muslims and non-Muslims co-exist and contribute peacefully to the

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Original article was published on Berita Harian on 11 June 2018. https://bit.ly/32inQvZ