Dear Editors,
This morning I woke up shocked to read that a local business Albenyahya Enterprise was accused of selling the ISIS terrorist flag in Singapore. I hope to clarify the wrong misconception Singaporeans may have about this.
http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/09/are-isis-flags-being-sold-in-singapore/
http://therealsingapore.com/content/dear-trs-i-am-worried-see-group-singaporeans-openly-supporting-isis
Being quite worried, I called up my gd friend Halim to ask him about it. What he told me shocked me. He explained that the flag does not represent the ISIS terror group at all and was very disturbed that media sites were too quick to smear the black flag as a terror flag.
Instead Halim explained that the flag existed way before the ISIS terror group started and simply states “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad SAW is his messenger”. It is a phrase that is recited by Muslims all across the world during their prayers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
But he did admit that because many extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda have adopted the black flag and twisted the true religious message to suit their agenda, it is no wonder many people mistaken the flag to represent these terrorist groups.
Now that we know, we should not link this religous flag to the terrorist organisations who use violence to achieve their agenda. Just because terrorists have hijacked the flag for its own use does not mean it is representative of the majority of Muslims who do not believe such violent ideology.
I hope that this help clear up wrong ideas people may have about the black flag. It is definitely not a terrorist flag and we as fellow Singaporeans should proactively seek knowledge from our Singaporean-Muslim friends when in doubt. Do our due dilligence and do not foolishly buy into what the media is feeding you!
Perhaps MUIS or the Mufti can do more to reassure fellow Singaporeans by helping explain the true meaning of the flag so that we will not be misled.
Jonathan Leong
Source:
http://rilek1corner.com/2014/09/03/awareness-islamic-black-flag-sold-in-...
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ISIS
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islam
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