After being the subject of public uproar over controversial remarks against Christians and Jews during a sermon, Imam Nalla Mohamed Abdul Jameel has since been fined $4,000 on grounds of promoting enmity between religious groups.
The imam was caught on video reciting in Arabic “Grant us help against the Jews and the Christians” during a Friday prayer on Jan 6 at the Jamae Chulia Mosque. The quote was not from the Quran, like many netizens believed — but a text from an old Arabic text that originated from the imam’s village in India.
“He knew what the phrase meant, and that it could also be interpreted as asking God to grant Muslims victory over Jews and Christians,” wrote the Ministry of Home Affairs in a statement. “The phrase was and is unacceptable in a multi-racial and multi-religious society.”
In court, Nalla pleaded guilty to the offence of committing an act prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious groups, admitting that the supplication was his own.
“Any religious leader from any religion who makes such statements will be held accountable for their actions,” added MHA. “Under Singapore law, we cannot (regardless of his religion) allow anyone to preach or act divisively and justify that by reference to a religious text.”
MHA also noted that the 46-year-old imam will be repatriated back to India, his country of origin. Last Friday, Nalla held a conference with Christian, Sikh, Taoist, Buddhist and Hindu representatives along with members of the Federation of Indian Muslims to express his remorse and apologised for his remarks.
Yesterday, Nalla visited Rabbi Moderchai Abergel at the Maghain Aboth Synagogue to apologise to the local Jewish community, which the rabbi accepted on behalf.
Interestingly enough, two other parties were also taken to task in relation to the case. Terence Kenneth John Nunis — the man who uploaded the footage of the Nalla making the remarks — was given a warning for choosing to make the video public instead of reporting it to the police. Khairudin Aljunied — the National University of Singapore associate professor who made a veiled criticism of Terence’s actions on Facebook — was given a warning as well.
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