Islamic teacher placed on restriction order for extremist teachings

A religious teacher and another person were placed under restriction order (RO) by Singapore authorities for extremist teachings that promote violence, according to a Ministry of Home Affairs statement.

Murad Mohd Said, 46, has been placed on a RO under the Internal Security Act for spreading exclusivist and extremist teachings that promote violence, the statement issued Wednesday stated.

He taught that it was compulsory to kill apostates, defined broadly to include non-believers, Sufis, Shi'ites, and Muslims who have renounced Islam or disregarded texts and rulings from the Quran and Sunnah, it said.

The statement said a person issued a RO has to adhere several conditions and restrictions such as not allowed to travel out of Singapore and change address and employment.

Said also taught that Muslims were allowed to defend themselves by waging armed jihad against infidels who persecuted them, it said.

Murad also encouraged his students to withdraw from Singapore's secular society, disregard secular laws, and adhere to the rulings of Syariah law instead, the ministry said said.

His student Razali Abas, a 56-year-old technician, met him in 2012 and started attending his classes. Abas was placed under a RO to prevent him from continuing his downward spiral into extremism, the statement said.

Over time, Abas became convinced that it was legitimate to kill those he felt were oppressors of Islam, it said
His statements on the primacy of Syariah law over secular laws also undermine Singapore's secular nation-state system, the ministry said