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Tag: Islam

  • More Muslim Marriages Ending Before Five Years

    More Muslim Marriages Ending Before Five Years

    People married for five to nine years made up the largest group of divorcing couples in Singapore in the past two decades.

    But Muslim couples are bucking this trend and splitting up earlier. In the 2003 marriage cohort, for example, 14 per cent of Muslim marriages dissolved before the fifth anniversary, compared with 10.5 per cent who did so between the fifth and ninth year. This trend can be seen from the 1999 cohort onwards.

    For non-Muslim marriages in 2003, 9.2 per cent of couples broke up between the fifth and ninth year, while 5.1 per cent did so before the fifth anniversary.

    Those who work with divorcing Muslim couples say the trend could reflect how a greater proportion of Muslims marry young or remarry than non-Muslims.

    In 2013, 1.2 per cent of Muslim grooms and 5.2 per cent of brides were below 21 years old. For non- Muslims, these were 0.4 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively.

    It is similar for remarriages. While remarriage is on the rise among Singaporeans in general, it is particularly common among Muslims. About a third of the community’s weddings in 2013, or 30.3 per cent, involved at least one partner who was not tying the knot for the first time.

    This compares with a quarter of such marriages, or 23.7 per cent, among civil marriages, according to the Women’s Charter.

    Family lawyer Abdul Rahman said most of the Muslim couples in divorce cases he handled got married by 23 years old.

    “Their marriages face greater risk of breaking down earlier because they are ill-prepared financially and emotionally.”

    An earlier government report also showed that break-ups are more common in remarriages.

    Said Madam Azita Abdul Aziz, director of social services at welfare group PPIS: “Such couplings tend to be more vulnerable because couples bring baggage from previous marriages and there may be comparisons with their former spouse and disagreements over parenting of stepchildren.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

     

  • Gender Segregation Among Tighter Performance Guidelines Imposed By JAKIM

    Gender Segregation Among Tighter Performance Guidelines Imposed By JAKIM

    The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has posted new guidelines for artistes and entertainers looking to perform in the country on its website, with strict limitations imposed on their personality, dressing, behaviour and performances.

    Jakim is also imposing gender segregation for the audience at concerts and shows while also clamping down on music and lyrics that have elements of “worship”, which are considered sacred to believers of other religions.

    The rules were released by the department earlier this week after being approved by the 107th National Fatwa Committee Conference in February, and are available in a document linked to Jakim’s website. It states that this is the second edition of such rules.

    Artistes, Jakim said, must possess “noble and good character” and should not have any criminal record, whether in civil or Shariah cases.

    They must also be dressed modestly, without exposing their “aurat” or parts of the body that cannot be exposed according to Islam, and must not wear any clothes that can lead to “exploitation” by the audience.

    Dressing, accessories and hairstyles must not resemble that of a different gender of the artiste, Jakim said. Cross-dressing during any performance is also banned.

    The religious authority has also ruled that jokes made during performances must be appropriate and cannot lead to “excessive laughter”.

    Besides that, jokes cannot be made at the expense of a “serious matter” and on “issues that are mournful”.

    All performances must not go against the sensitivities of any religion and any race, while there also cannot be acts of worship of other beings or humans.

    Dance performances, meanwhile, must not cause slander or lust, Jakim said, adding that men and women cannot perform in the same routine.

    The music accompanying the performances must inject peace and positivity and cannot evoke negative emotions that are contradictory to Islam, the guidelines said.

    The guidelines replace the previous one, which were mainly for preventing elements of vice and idolatry in performances.

    “This guideline is to help those involved in the entertainment industry ensure that all events are carried out according to Shariah codes,” Jakim said, adding that it also hoped that organisers would inform authorities of any event.

    The guidelines are not considered to be law. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom had said earlier this year that those giving approvals for any concert should always remind the organisers to adhere to Jakim’s guidelines.

    He had said this in January after a three-minute video uploaded online showed three tudung-clad Muslim fans being hugged and kissed by K-pop artistes B14A at a mini-concert at the Live Centre in Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur.

    The video caused an uproar and religious authorities criticised the action of the girls and band members, saying they were overboard and against Islamic teachings, and had offended Muslim sensitivities.

     

    Source: www.themalaysianinsider.com

  • Madrasah Students No Longer Need To Pay Examination Fees For Religious Subjects

    Madrasah Students No Longer Need To Pay Examination Fees For Religious Subjects

    Madrasah students will no longer have to pay national examination fees for religious subjects.

    This was announced at the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore Workplan Seminar on Saturday (Apr 18), about a month after examination fees were waived for madrasah students’ academic subjects.

    The cost, expected to be S$25,000 annually, will be borne by the Madrasah Fund.

    The fund was set up in 1994 to raise the standards of full-time madrasahs. There are currently six full-time madrasahs in Singapore.

    The initiative, which starts this year, will benefit around 70 ‘A’ Level students and 350 ‘O’ Level students.

    The three religious subjects that will be funded are Islamic Religious Knowledge for ‘O’ Levels, and Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Theology for ‘A’ Levels.

    “Since the Government has promised to assist us to waive, for example, the fees for the national exams which involve only secular subjects, for madrasah students who also undergo examinations for religious subjects, we thought it’s best that we also equalise that as much as possible,” said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, and Communications and Information Minister.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Mufti: Credibillity Of Religious Authority Need To Be Earned, Open And Engaging Discussions Necessary

    Mufti: Credibillity Of Religious Authority Need To Be Earned, Open And Engaging Discussions Necessary

    Counter-messaging must be a key weapon in the fight against terrorism, yet it can be a difficult one to wield due to the myriad of factors fuelling the rise of extremism today, said speakers at a symposium yesterday.

    Speaking on the second day of the East Asia Summit Symposium on Religious Rehabilitation and Social Integration, Singapore’s mufti, Dr Fatris Bakaram, questioned if acts of terror could simply be attributed to a misinterpretation of religious texts.

    He also asked if radicalisation could be caused by a sense of disenchantment with the state, a rejection of the secular culture or a political agenda.

    “One could certainly add on to the list of questions, and I suspect the reasons are as multi-various as they are interlinked,” he added.

    Retired General John Allen from the United States noted that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is an “offshoot” of a series of socio-economic and political circumstances.

    “And unless we solve those underlying causes, Daesh (an acronym of ISIS’ Arabic name) will simply be … a symptom … ultimately, the coalition’s activity will not be cured,” said Gen Allen. He was appointed last September as the Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, a term by which the ISIS is also known.

    Gen Allen noted that the Internet has aided extremist operations in their global expansion, resulting in an “unprecedented generational challenge”, with young men and women able to fight for the cause from even their home countries.

    To fight terrorism, he said, we must “dominate the information environment” across different platforms and languages, with messages that contest ISIS’ “propaganda machine”.

    “(We must) take back the information sphere from Daesh and eliminate its pre-eminence.”

    Gen Allen added that a multi-pronged approach against terrorism must also involve efforts to clamp down on the movement of foreign fighters as well as the financial resources of extremist outfits.

    However, Dr Fatris stressed that messages must be crafted and conveyed by credible leaders, and noted that credibility had to be earned over time. “Our credibility as a religious authority is not a right … we (cannot) implicitly assume that people will listen to us … we are essentially partaking in a battle for the heart and soul of Islam.”

    He added that religious leaders cannot shy away from addressing “dark and difficult episodes of warfare and persecution”. Educating the young today is not simply about telling them what is right or wrong, he said. “It is engaging their learning process, hearing them … engaging them on ideas and letting them speak their minds.”

    Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said there were more than 10,000 terrorist-related Facebook accounts, 47,000 Twitter accounts and more than 9,800 websites. “We need a point-by-point rebuttal of (ISIS’) justifications for using violence … you specifically question, show me in the Koran that this is permitted,” he said.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Hypocrisy In Dealing With Muslims Must Be Addressed

    Hypocrisy In Dealing With Muslims Must Be Addressed

    Our Mufti questions whether terrorism can solely be attributed to misinterpretation of texts. He then suggests that the reasons could be multi-faceted, and include disenchantment towards the state.

    Thanks to our Mufti for saying something that has been ignored for far too long, by far too many people (‘experts’).

    If i may add: the hypocrisy in dealing with Muslims must also be addressed. When a Muslim commits a terrorist act, everyone rushes to condemn – Muslim ‘spokesmen’ and leaders included – and words such as ‘lone wolf terrorist’ are used. When Muslims are the victim of such attacks – as in the case of the Chapel Hill shootings – not only do these spokesmen disappear, but the perpetrators are described as people with ‘mental issues’.

    There can be no peace without justice.

     

    Source: Walid J Abdullah

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