SINGAPORE – The Muslim community should be careful when seeking religious guidance, and check that the asatizah is qualified under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS), a database of registered religious teachers here.

In a statement on Tuesday (Nov 10), Minister for Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli said if members of the community are unsure or come across questionable teachings, they should reach out to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) to verify.

“Let us stand guard against deviant and extreme teachings of Islam. We must work together to protect our families and community against negative influences that will harm them,” said Mr Masagos, who is also Minister for Social and Family Development.

He was responding to a Straits Times report, “Self-styled prophet said to have five spiritual wives”, published on Monday about the alleged sect leader and his group.

Among other things, claims were made that during teaching sessions, the man had proclaimed himself a prophet.

He also allegedly said gambling is allowed in order to help the needy. Gambling is prohibited in Islam.

Several men also blamed the alleged sect leader for ending their marriages, saying the married man had taken their former partners as his spiritual wives.

In his statement, Mr Masagos said many in the community had expressed concerns after reading the article.

“Muis was alerted to the case in 2018 and had issued a formal advisory for the individual, who is not a qualified or registered religious teacher under the Asatizah Recognition Scheme, to cease his religious activities immediately to avoid causing confusion not only to himself, but also to his family and his followers.

“However, The Straits Times’ article raised new claims and allegations which need to be investigated further by Muis and the relevant authorities.”

Muis, which also issued a statement on Tuesday, said the alleged sect leader is not qualified or registered as a religious teacher under the ARS.

It added that its Fatwa Committee had interviewed the individual soon after Muis was alerted to the case in 2018, “as the nature of his activities in the complaints appeared to be religious”.

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“He had denied any wrongdoing then and only admitted to offering spiritual healing.

“The committee had subsequently administered a formal advisory to him to cease such activities immediately as he was not qualified to do so.”

There was an overwhelming response from the Malay Muslim community and general public to the ST report about the deviant religious group.

As of 6pm on Tuesday, a video story on the group has been watched more than 304,000 times. In addition, the clip has been shared about 3,700 times and currently hosts about 1,000 comments.

While some had expressed feelings of outrage, others said the alleged leader, a businessman in his 50s, and his all-female group of followers, should not be judged harshly.

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The man, a former massage therapist, is said to have led the group for the last 15 years.

ST took three months to break the story, interviewing a number of former followers and scanning through reams of documents said to be notes from the teaching sessions.

Muis said the report raised “new and alarming claims” about the man’s activities.

“While Muis is unable to independently verify if they indeed took place, practices such as having ‘spiritual wives’, gambling to help others, and describing oneself as a prophet are clearly deviant and a distortion of the Islamic faith.

“It is also an offence to conduct a religious school without being registered with Muis,” added the council, which is Singapore’s highest Islamic authority.

Muis said it will be working with the relevant authorities to investigate the matter further and take the appropriate action.

It also called on members of the public with relevant information to assist it.

“We would like to remind the community to protect ourselves and our families by seeking religious instruction only from those who are qualified and registered to do so,” said Muis.

“If there are individuals making dubious claims or propagating doubtful teachings, please verify with Muis or the Asatizah Recognition Scheme Office via [email protected].”

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