The former Catholic school student now shaping fatwas on modern Muslim life

SINGAPORE — Up until she was 19, Dr Rohana Ithnin went to Catholic school.

Today, she sits on the Fatwa Committee — a body under the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) that issues religious edicts to help Muslims here navigate modern society according to Islamic principles.

And as the first woman to be appointed a full member of this committee — an appointment she received last week — Dr Rohana says she hopes to represent not only women’s views but those of young people as well.

As a religious teacher of 30 years, the sprightly 56-year-old has had many interactions with young Muslims on topics as varied as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) issues and online radicalisation by terrorist groups.

She is seen as an expert on youth issues in the local Muslim community. Last year, she was brought in to conduct a class on LGBTQ issues with budding religious teachers who were studying at the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (Pergas).

“Not a lot of us want to talk about these things, but I feel it’s important to address them,” said Dr Rohana, in an interview with TODAY at Jamiyah Education Centre, of which she is the principal.

After all, she added, religion should not be static and it should continuously reflect and evolve with society.

This is why she is a big proponent of engaging young people in religious discussions instead of taking a top-down approach.

“I’m always coming up with interactive brain teasers and online quizzes to keep my classes engaging,” said Dr Rohana.

She also tries to go the extra mile to engage youth, such as by staying active on social media where she discusses learning techniques and shares interesting anecdotes on modern issues.

GAINING INTEREST IN HER OWN FAITH

Over the course of three decades, Dr Rohana has taught at three local madrasahs before eventually becoming the principal of Jamiyah Education Centre last year. She was also a Pergas council member.

Throughout her career she has not stopped learning. She recently completed her doctorate in Islamic studies at Universitas Ibn Khaldun in Indonesia.

Strangely enough, the inspiration for this lifetime of work and study in the Muslim faith began in Catholic school.

As a Muslim student in St Francis Girls’ School — now St Francis Methodist School — she was exempted from participating in mass, but enjoyed watching her Catholic peers practising their faith.

One fateful day, she recalled, she was on the bus to school when she struck up a conversation with a madrasah student.

Although the memory is faint now, she remembers comparing the curriculum in their respective schools and it dawned on her that madrasah students took on additional subjects, some of which sounded interesting to her.

“I felt like we were people from two different worlds who shared a common interest,” she said.

It was this conversation that inspired her to dive deeper into her own faith.

And it was in the pursuit of this newfound interest that she went on to study in Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah for six years after her A Levels.

Asked what it was like to transition from Catholic school to a madrasah at 19, she replied: “It was like starting from square one.”

Even though she had attended part-time madrasah after school when she was younger, Dr Rohana struggled to adapt to the demanding curriculum of Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah when she first joined — and so, at 19, she was placed in a class of 11-year-olds.

“On top of taking up new subjects, I had to learn Arabic. It took me three years to catch up,” she said.

Dr Rohana’s hard work paid off. She topped the class in her final year and scored a scholarship to the famed Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt.

But looking back on her career, Dr Rohana said the most important role she has ever played in her life is that of a mother to her children — a 22-year-old daughter and a 24-year-old son.

Asked if she wants her children to follow her footsteps, Dr Rohana said that she enrolled her children into secular schools as she wanted to give them the “freedom to make their own choices” after she herself got to experience the best of both worlds.

Her son is pursuing criminology at the Singapore Institute of Technology while her daughter has just graduated from the same course.

“My best parenting advice is to walk the talk. I find joy in learning about my religion and learning about the world and I think it rubbed off on my children,” she said with a chuckle.

Beaming with pride at the mention of their achievements, Dr Rohana added that her family spends a lot of quality time together — usually to eat dinner, visit the museum or stroll at the park.

BEING A WOMAN IN A MALE-DOMINATED SPACE

In a Facebook post, President Halimah congratulated Dr Rohana on her appointment to the Fatwa Committee, saying that the body plays an important role in “guiding Singapore Muslims contextualise their religious obligations''.

Since it was set up in 1968, the Fatwa Committee has had a single but complicated task: Ruling on whether modern-day technologies and concepts are acceptable under Islamic laws and tenets, from the human milk bank at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (yes) to stem cell research (yes, but only if the research uses stem cells from embryos below 14 days old).

The new committee comprises four full members and 21 associate members, all of whom will serve a three-year term.

When asked why it took so long for a woman to be appointed a full member of the Fatwa Committee, Muis told TODAY that gender is not a selection criterion for the committee.

“Women asatizah (religious teachers) have long been active participants and contributors in shaping and providing insightful solutions to socio-religious issues,” Muis said in a statement.

“The Fatwa Committee convenes a dedicated group with each individual bringing to the table a specific set of expertise in the formulation of religious rulings.”

Dr Rohana herself feels she has not faced gender discrimination in her career, and pointed out that although the Fatwa Committee has never had a woman as a full member till now, there have been female associate members.

She herself was one for two years before being promoted to the main committee.

“I think we are in this associate committee because of our expertise, not our gender,” she said, adding that associate members get to raise issues and debate them with the main committee.

"What I bring to the table is a woman's perspective not just about women's issues but all issues in general."

It is no surprise then, that she thinks any young woman with a dream should simply go forth and seize it.

When asked for her advice to young women, she took a moment to think and issued this “fatwa” of her own: “Take action, start pursuing your ambition, be innovative and move forward.”