SINGAPORE: Two Singaporeans – a religious teacher and one of his students - have been issued with restriction orders under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced on Wednesday (Jan 16).
Freelance religious teacher Murad Mohd Said, 46, was placed on the order on Dec 5 last year for “propagating beliefs promoting violence and views detrimental to the cohesion of Singapore’s multi-racial and multi-religious society”, said MHA.
AdvertisementThis is the first time a restriction order has been issued to a teacher accredited under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS), which recognises teachers and scholars who meet the minimum standards of qualification to teach Islamic religious knowledge.
“He (Murad) taught that it was compulsory to kill apostates, defined broadly to include non-believers, Sufis, Shi’ites and Muslims who have renounced Islam or disregarded texts and rulings from the Quran and Sunnah,” MHA said in a media release.
“He also taught that Muslims were allowed to defend themselves by waging ‘armed jihad’ against ‘infidels who persecuted them’.”
The ministry added that Murad also encouraged his students to withdraw from Singapore’s secular society, disregard secular laws and adhere to the rulings of Syariah law instead.
AdvertisementAdvertisementLast May, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) cancelled Murad’s accreditation for propagating segregationist ideologies that contravened the ARS code of ethics.
However, Murad continued to propagate those views online, said MHA.
“Murad’s binary ‘us versus them’ worldview and violent teachings, which he propagated to his students and followers, could have led them to develop extremist views, as well as lead to inter-faith tensions,” the ministry added.
“His statements on the primacy of Syariah law over secular laws also undermined Singapore’s secular nation-state system.”
STUDENT ARRESTED
Murad’s student, Razali Abas, was arrested under the ISA last September after he was found to hold radical views on the use of armed violence against the perceived enemies of Islam, MHA said.
The 56-year-old technician was issued with a restriction order a month later to “prevent him from continuing his downward spiral into extremism”, MHA added.
Razali was introduced to Murad some time in 2012 before he began attending the latter’s classes.
“The exclusivist religious teachings he imbibed from the classes rendered him susceptible to the more radical and violent influences he later encountered on social media,” MHA said.
“Over time, Razali became convinced that it was legitimate to kill those he felt were oppressors of Islam, including non-Muslims and Shi’ites.”
MHA said Razali began to seek out individuals with militant-looking profiles on Facebook, seeing them as “heroes” who were making sacrifices.
The posts on these profiles, MHA said, also reinforced his belief in armed violence and his admiration and support for militant groups such as Al-Qaeda.
[h=3]READ: Foreign preachers Mufti Menk and Haslin Baharim banned from entering Singapore: MHA[/h]People issued with a restriction order must abide by several conditions. They cannot, for instance, travel out of Singapore or change addresses or jobs without approval. They also cannot issue public statements, address public meetings or print, distribute or contribute to any publication without approval.
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