Reaching out to foreigners a challenge for mosques

SINGAPORE — Mosques here frequented by foreign workers face challenges in reaching out to them to provide proper religious guidance due to the language barrier and a lack of resources, among other factors.

A check with four mosques in the Little India and Bugis area found that, for example, there are no religious classes catered to Bangladeshi and Indian workers who are regularly seen at the sermons. While the mosques welcome all to join its existing classes for the public, there are few foreigners on their books as the programmes are not publicised among migrant workers, the mosque leaders and administrators told TODAY.

They added that the mosques do not have the means to effectively engage the foreign workers, beyond conducting sermons in the workers’ native languages sometimes.

“So far, I don’t see many foreign workers attending our religious classes. Ninety per cent of (those who attend) are local,” said Madam Rohayah Harun, an administrative executive in charge of Mosque Affairs and Operations at Wak Tanjong Mosque in Paya Lebar. She added: “Most of them are staying in the dormitories so they have certain restrictions where they cannot go out at certain hours, and because our classes are conducted after the evening prayers. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why.”

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced that 27 Bangladeshi construction workers had been arrested here under the Internal Security Act after they were found to be contemplating armed jihad overseas as well as in their homeland. All but one of the workers belonged to a religious study group that subscribed to extremist teachings.

Since 2013, the study group had been holding weekly meetings and gatherings — sometimes at local mosques near where some of them were staying — where they discussed armed jihad and conflicts that involved Muslims.

Angullia Mosque was cited by Bangladeshi media as one of the mosques where some of the arrested men held regular meetings. The mosque on Serangoon Road sees a large congregation of Bangladeshi workers every Sunday.

“After the prayers, they will sit down and read the hadiths, in whatever language they speak,” said a management committee member of Angullia Mosque who declined to be named. “There are no classes. We only have classes for the young kids. On Sundays, when the Bangladeshi workers are here, they will sit around, and chit chat in their own groups. We don’t understand what they are talking about. We have to get someone who speaks (some) English to know what the Bangladeshi workers are saying (in English),” he said.

Madam Rohayah noted that the language barrier may also make it difficult for Bangladeshi workers to fully participate in mosque activities. “We can do a lot (for them), but the problem is the language barrier. As you know, most of them don’t speak Malay, and if they speak English, when we have speakers speaking in English, it will be a very different English to what they understand,” said Madam Rohayah.

In response to TODAY’s queries, Mr Helmi Isa, the director of mosques at the Islamic Council of Singapore (MUIS), reiterated that Bangladeshi Muslims “have become part of our diverse mosque congregation”. “MUIS and the mosques work closely with the Singapore Bangladeshi Association to enhance the welfare of the Bangladeshi workers. For example, the text of MUIS’ Eid sermons are translated into Bengali at some of our mosques, for the benefit of the workers,” he said.

Terrorism experts TODAY spoke to said that, in light of the arrests of the Bangladeshi workers, there is a need to step up efforts to reach out to foreign workers here to provide proper religious guidance. “Otherwise, the workers may seek guidance from foreign sources that may turn out to be extremist,” said Associate Professor Kumar Ramakrishna, head of policy studies at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

He suggested that the Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore join hands with MUIS to identify and bring in respected and accredited preachers. “Alternatively, local preachers accredited by MUIS and possessing the necessary language ability need to be found,” he added.

Professor Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at RSIS, said mosques should team up with institutions with an expertise in working with the youth, such as the Religious Rehabilitation Group, to develop programmes to “engage vulnerable foreign workers to ensure they do not go down the path of radicalisation”.

Wak Tanjong Mosque conducts sermons targeted at foreign workers during the month of Ramadan. The mosque also has an in-house religious teacher who is conversant in Tamil and teaches the Quran. “There are quite a number of Indian-speaking communities here so that’s why we cater to that need,” Madam Rohayah said.

Nevertheless, she noted it was “very difficult” for her mosque to bring in speakers from the foreign workers’ countries of origin. “We don’t speak their language to know what they actually say ... to make sure that they cover what they are supposed to cover (during the sermon),” she said.

The mosque is “very careful” with the foreign speakers it invites, subjected to approvals from the relevant authorities. “We know whatever they say, whatever they cover during the sermon, which is within the context of the synopsis that we applied for and approved by the Government,” Madam Rohayah said.

Speaking to TODAY, Bangladeshi High Commissioner Mahbub Uz Zaman said the High Commission will be reaching out to the Bangladeshi workers here — who number around 160,000 — in the next few days to advise them to be calm, and encourage them to stay united.

“We should be united, obey the rules and regulations of the country we reside in and contribute to the economy. We can overcome this. This is just a handful (of people) and cannot be constituted as representative of Bangladesh. We are a peaceful, loving people,” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KENNETH CHENG AND EILEEN NG