Tag: Muslims

LearnIslam.sg Dilancarkan, Kandungi Rujukan Agama Sempena Ramadan Ini

Umat Islam setempat kini boleh mendapatkan panduan agama dengan lebih mudah menerusi satu portal online, LearnIslam.sg.

Laman tersebut diperkenalkan di pelancaran Kempen Sentuhan Ramadan petang ini tadi (29 Mei).

Portal itu sudah boleh dilungsuri dan diteruskan selepas Ramadan sebagai satu-satunya wadah online yang mengandungi sumber rujukan agama yang dihasilkan sendiri oleh para asatizah tempatan yang bertauliah.

Antara lain portal LearnIslam.sg menghimpunkan pelbagai rencana keagamaan, sumbangan para asatizah termasuk Mufti Negara, Dr Mohamed Fatris Bakaram.

Selain itu, para pengguna yang berdaftar juga boleh mendapatkan senarai program keagamaan yang ditawarkan para penyedia di merata Singapura dan berdaftar secara langsung di portal tersebut.

Hadir di pelancaran tadi, Menteri Bertanggungjawab Bagi Ehwal Masyarakat Islam, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, berkata inisiatif sedemikian tidak boleh hanya dilihat sebagai tindak balas kepada mesej-mesej pelampau di Internet.

Sebaliknya, portal itu merupakan satu cara untuk mendalamkan lagi pemahaman agama Islam di kalangan golongan belia.

“Saya rasa dengan wadah yang ada ini, disediakan oleh pihak MUIS, kita boleh mengajak golongan belia untuk mereka tampil ke hadapan, untuk memberikan apakah soalan-soalan mereka, keprihatinan mereka. Kita boleh bekerjasama untuk menentukan bahawa mereka faham fahaman Islam dengan lebih mendalam dan sekaligus, kita mendidik mereka tentang nilai-nilai yang penting dalam masyarakat kita,” ujar Dr Yaacob semasa ditemui media.

SENARAI TEMPAT AGIH BUBUR RAMADAN

Satu kit persiapan Ramadan juga akan disediakan di portal itu. Ia mengandungi pelbagai maklumat seperti jadual solat tarawih, senarai tempat yang mengagih bubur Ramadan serta resipi-resipi juadah sahur dan iftar yang lebih sihat.

Inisiatif sedemikian selaras dengan tumpuan kempen Sentuhan Ramadan tahun ini iaitu ‘Menimba Ilmu’ yang menggalakkan umat Islam supaya meningkatkan kegiatan kerohanian serta ibadah sepanjang bulan Ramadan dan seterusnya.

Mengekalkan tema “Ramadan Bersama Keluarga”, kempen tahun ini dilancarkan oleh Menteri Bertanggungjawab Bagi Ehwal Masyarakat Islam, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, di Masjid Al-Iman petang tadi.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

May 30, 2016
Six Bangladeshis Are First In Singapore To Face Terrorism Financing Charge

Six radicalised Bangladeshi nationals who were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in April this year are the first to be prosecuted under the Terrorism (Supression of Financing) Act.

The six men – Rahman Mizanur, Mamun Leakot Ali, Miah Rubel, Zzaman Daulat, Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul lslam Sowdagar, and Sohel Hawlader lsmail Hawlader – were charged in court on Friday (May 27), “for providing and/or collecting property for terrorist purposes”, said a police statement.

Of the six, two – Miah Rubel and Md Jabath Kysar Haje Norul lslam Sowdagar – will also be charged for possession of property for terrorist purposes under the same Act.

The six were part of a group of eight plotting to establish an Islamic state in Bangladesh, according to a statement by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on May 3.

The group – which called itself Islamic State in Bangladesh – was set up by 31-year-old S-Pass holder Rahman Mizanur in March this year.

The rest of the group members – whose ages range from 26 to 34 – are Work Permit holders. All of them were working in the local construction and marine industries.

Based on investigations by MHA, the group had identified several possible attack targets in Bangladesh, and possessed documents on weapons and bomb making. They also had significant amount of ISIS and Al Qaeda radical material, and planned to recruit other Bangladeshi nationals working in Singapore to grow their group.

MHA said it had also seized funds the group had raised to buy firearms to carry out their planned terror attacks in Bangladesh.

Source: ChannelNews Asia

May 27, 2016
Amos Yee Makes Video To Hurt Muslims, But Community Too Mature For Him

Amos Yee has made an extremely provocative video with the intent of hurting the beliefs and sentiments of Muslims. The video is too vulgar to be shared with this post. We would probably get into trouble with the law if we did as well. But snippets from the video can be seen here: http://bit.ly/1VhKTjt.

If Amos had hoped to cause outrage among the Muslim community here with the video, judging from the comments found to the Facebook post, the exact opposite is happening.

They see him for who he is – an attention seeker.

The Muslims here do not view it as an attack from the Chinese majority.They pity the mother and don’t blame her upbringing for his waywardness.

They have reported Amos to the authorities instead of taking matters into their own hands.

And most importantly the Muslim community forgave him.

And since Amos’ performance was so bad in the video, one suggested he should read another ancient text instead.
Meanwhile the activists had an update form Amos’ mom.

Source: http://theindependent.sg

May 26, 2016
6 Months Imprisonment For Attacker OF Madrasah Students

A single act of racially aggravated violence wounds the victim, and by extension, the collective interest of society, said a district judge on Friday (May 20) as he sentenced a former security officer to six months’ jail.

Koh Weng Onn, who attacked three madrasah students on April 1 this year, had pleaded guilty to two charges — causing hurt with racial aggravation, as well as committing a rash act causing hurt.

District Judge Mathew Joseph noted that 48-year-old Koh, who suffers from a disorder with delusions of persecution, had made 355 police reports since 2008, many of them against Malay and Indian subjects.

“The racial pattern in these reports poses a risk of the accused getting into similar situations (again),” he said.

According to court documents, Koh started to have a bad impression of Malays several years ago, when he confronted a group for allegedly talking about him, and claimed that they started to hit him until he ran away.

Around 7pm on March 31 this year, Koh was walking towards a coffee shop at East Coast Road when he saw two Malay women cycling towards him. He took a chair and pushed it towards them, sparking a dispute.

A male Malay cyclist, who was behind the women, started having a shoving match with Koh. The police were called, and the parties apologised to each other.

The next day, he was walking towards the MRT station along Paya Lebar Road at around 7.22am, when he passed a 16-year-old student. He suddenly kicked her and swore at her in Hokkien, leaving his victim shocked by the sudden blow.

A minute later, Koh passed a 14-year-old student, and swung a plastic bag containing a filled 1.5-litre bottle towards the side of her face.

As he entered Paya Lebar MRT Station and rode the escalator down, he saw a group of girls riding the escalator in the opposite direction.

Koh waited till all of them, except the last girl, had passed him, before swinging his plastic bag at the 14-year-old’s face.

Koh later defended himself, saying that the sight of the three girls, all students of Madrasah Al-Maarif Al-Islamiah, reminded him of the encounter with the cyclists, and thus angered him.

Calling for a sentence of six months’ jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ang Feng Qian noted that Koh had confessed that he committed the offences because the victims were Malay. He also chose the girls specifically because they were young and female, to reduce the chances of retaliation and reprisal, she added.

Defence lawyer Sunil Sudheesan, who pleaded for a jail term of three months, said Koh’s delusions had contributed to his offences.

Mr Sunil added that the fact that an anonymous entrepreneur from an Arab-Muslim family had stepped forward to seek legal help for Koh and offered to foot his bills showed that Singaporeans are not “short-sighted”.

Mr Sunil said: “They know the difference between someone who is a racist and a bigot, and someone who has (a) mental illness.”

District Judge Joseph noted that Koh’s family had apologised on his behalf previously. “In a world (divided) by sectarian strife, the exhortation to love your neighbour becomes exceedingly crucial. And it’s all the more important for a nation like Singapore,” the judge said.

Koh’s older brother, Mr Muhammad Johan Koh, told TODAY that the family accepted the sentence, adding: “He knew he committed an offence and needs to face the consequences. After serving his sentence, he will resume his treatment at the Institute of Mental Health. We will get the help we need to get him better.”

Source: www.todayonline.com

May 21, 2016
Hajjah Fatimah Mosque To Be Restored, Minaret’s Tilt Preserved

Singapore’s own “leaning tower” – the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque’s minaret, which tilts at an angle of six degrees – will be restored to its former glory.

Although the slant will remain, the structure, alongside the rest of the 1846 compound, will undergo a year-long $500,000 restoration to address issues such as moisture damage or plaster cracks on walls.

The project will be co-funded under the National Monuments Fund, administered by the Preservation of Sites and Monuments (PSM) division. The National Heritage Board (NHB) said yesterday $2.22 million of the $9.77 million set aside to co-fund the restoration of national monuments will be disbursed this year to eight recipients, including the mosque and St Joseph’s Church.

To qualify for the grant, the monuments must be non-profit or religious. Of the 72 here, 31 are eligible.

Mr Alsagoff Mohdar, 74, chairman of Hajjah Fatimah’s mosque management board, said: “The restoration could transform it into a more conducive place of worship for Muslims, make it more presentable for the tourists who often come by.”

Based on old maps, the land on which the Beach Road mosque sits used to be a mangrove swamp, a factor contributing to the moisture damage across the site.

The tilt of the minaret is a result of its hand-made bricks. They are less compact than machine-made ones, resulting in moisture seepage and shifting over time, said Mr Chern Jia Ding, assistant director of PSM’s architecture and inspectorate.

While the tilt cannot be rectified, steps have been taken to monitor the slant. To deal with weakening bricks, salt will be extracted from the structure. Chemicals will be injected into it to form a water barrier. Existing layers of paint will be stripped away and replaced by a new coat of mineral paint.

Another recipient of the restoration fund is the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The ongoing restoration of the Queen Street building, to finish in the third quarter of the year, is slated to receive $1.37 million from the authorities. PSM had disbursed close to $1.49 million under the first tranche of the fund, which was introduced in 2008.

The funding for the cathedral will partly cover structural reinforcement work. The total cost of restoring the monument is $11.8 million.

Mr Lim Boon Heng, former Cabinet minister and chairman of the steering committee for the restoration and renovation of the cathedral, described it as a long journey.

The work involved restoring its neo-classical ceiling and retiling its floors to mirror its original design. There is still more to be done – another $2 million is needed for the construction project, which is expected to cost about $40 million in all. This includes the restoration of a two-storey rectory and the building of a new three-storey block.

Mr Lim said: “We have to make sure this monument stays a long, long time for Singaporeans. It’s part of the collective memory of Singaporeans, not just Catholics.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 20, 2016