Speech by Mufti Dr Nazirudin Mohd Nasir at Bridges of Faith Hari Raya Dinner 2026

1. Thank you for joining us to mark this sacred occasion of Eidulfitri or Hari Raya Puasa. Today’s event is probably one of the final celebrations as the month of Syawal is ending, but the most special as we celebrate it with friends from the interfaith community. 

2. On behalf of MUIS and the Harmony Centre, I wish to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to all of you for your unwavering strong support for interfaith events and gatherings, including your presence at our Hari Raya celebrations every year. Your presence here tonight is not just a gesture of goodwill - it is a testament to the Singapore we have built together, where Hari Raya celebration belongs not just to Muslims, but to all who call this island home.

Leaders and friends,

3. We did not set out to survive as different communities living together through tolerance and coexistence, but as an interreligious community that thrives on genuine friendship. Like all good friends, we share stories and memories, learn from one another, and journey together to build something special and uniquely Singaporean. Many of us here have worked together for many years, forging formal and informal ties in the process, issuing joint statements and coordinating responses in times of need, and even picked up some battle scars in the heydays of the Covid-19 pandemic.

4. In fact, it is through your openness and curiosity of mind, and generosity of spirit, that we have learnt something truly significant - that the very act of welcoming others, of listening to others to understand a different view and perspective of the world, of working with others for a shared vision and a common purpose, is profoundly religious and sacred.  

So thank you once again.

5. As with all things, difficult and challenging conditions do not naturally sort themselves out - we believe in divine intervention, but we also believe in putting in the hard work. As the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him taught us, tie the camel, then leave the outcome to God. The Harmony Centre has been an important cog in the interfaith wheel that forms the backbone of Singapore’s social cohesion. Today, I take the opportunity to acknowledge their hard work and pay tribute to its leaders as the Centre commemorates its 20^th anniversary.

6. For two decades, this institution has bridged communities and introduced and popularised interfaith relations and cohesion to many segments - school children, national servicemen, civil servants, foreign diplomats and dignitaries and community leaders. Interfaith relations have significantly evolved, thanks to the work of the Harmony Centre and all its partners. What started as tentative, cautious, and sometimes uncertain steps, have now matured into confident strides that help us to forge new and meaningful friendships, and foster deeper trust.

7. So please join me to express our deepest gratitude to the pioneering figures of the Harmony Centre, Hj Alami Musa, Captain Haniff, Ustaz Ali, Ustaz Fazalee, and Ustazah Liyana Rosli. As you would already know, the leaders of Harmony Centre do not only take on an administrative role, but more importantly, they are our interfaith ambassadors and the voice of our interfaith conscience and commitment. They protect and fortify the bridges we build between communities. Every time we think of interreligious harmony, their faces come to mind first.

8. So no pressure to Ustaz Muhammad Nasir, whom we welcome as the new Head of the Harmony Centre. Many of you may have already met him, whether in his new role or in his previous roles. I normally banter with him about football, more recently, exchanging laments on the poor showings of our respective clubs, his in blue and mine in red. But in our more serious conversations on interfaith work, his passion and commitment are very palpable. He has promised me that he will work very hard to achieve great things for the interfaith community through the Harmony Centre, and we wish him the very best in this very important portfolio. Please give him and his team your strong support that you have kindly extended to his predecessors. 

Friends,

9. What we have achieved together is nothing short of extraordinary. Allow me to reason why. In the history of religions, diversity is not necessarily a positive thing or a strength. In fact, religion starts off in exclusive forms – because it needed a unique and distinguishing identity and the stronger this identity, the better it is able to mature and endure. In this sense, anything different is, prima facie, a threat or risk to its survival. Hence, coexisting with other belief systems or religious groups is one of the hardest, if not impossible things to achieve. We continue to see this in many parts of the world. And in the face of external threats and pressures, we see communities that were once open and more inclusive, retreating and looking more and more inward.

10. Yet, what we experience in our society is quite the opposite. So it is either (1) we have gotten our doctrines, theologies or teachings wrong and we are misguided, or (2) we are doing something right by our respective religious traditions, and collectively, we have created something exceptional and extraordinary in the way we understand our religious duties.

11. My view is the latter - by the nature of our unique circumstances and conditions, especially our great diversity, we have dug deep in our traditions to uncover something more profound – that it is our common religious duty, first and foremost, to create an environment and condition that permits all of us to practice our respective ways of life safely and peacefully.

12. This is a path, and I should say a much harder one, that we have chosen for ourselves, as we deal with the risk posed by differences as an opportunity, and the threat of posed by diversity as a strength. Our peace and harmony today are the outcomes of (1) an extraordinary amount of introspection, looking inward into our respective traditions to grasp its core messages and essence, and (2) external contemplation, understanding our diverse social context and how we can be true to our religious teachings as neighbours to those who are different.

13. And not everyone out there can appreciate this delicate state of equilibrium. Hence why we get criticised when we extend courtesies across faith lines, when we say nice things about each other, when we choose measured or some say, even dispassionate responses, over passionate or toxic rhetoric. They may not understand that these are choices we have collectively made born from our lived experience of diversity. They might be stuck in a very exclusivist view of the world, but they should not be allowed to impose this myopic and parochial vision of life on us. 

14. Our approach has allowed us to flourish with harmony and peace even as other societies show cracks and divisions. This is what is at stake, what sets Singapore apart, which we must protect and defend. 

15. The bridges we have built are crucial in an increasingly uncertain and troubled world. The global political situation is one big challenge. As news and images of war and conflicts around the world become our daily feed, we now face a new risk – one that can easily chip away at our common resilience, when sympathies begin to diversify and diverge. 

16. We must acknowledge this situation is new for everyone – that our interests and concerns are no longer confined to what happens at home, and so too are our sentiments and views. These wars and conflicts are not ours, but we too feel the pain when young children lose their lives in the most horrific ways, and we too share the grief when communities are wiped out in the most violent fashion.  

17. If wars, conflicts, and violence persist in this world, our view of humanity will ultimately suffer. Our worst human tendencies may eventually take over. We will find someone to blame as we process this pain and grief. At some point, and we should say this with a great sense of remorse and sadness, facts no longer matter. Perceptions, and in most cases, misperceptions, and sentiments take over. These risks are further amplified in an era driven by AI, misinformation, fake news. 

18. We must bring back our communities, today more than ever before, to unite in one fundamental truth: protecting the sanctity of human life. All our traditions were acutely sensitive to human pain and suffering. Our religious figures and sages went through immense hardship to figure out how to address pain and suffering.  

19. Everything else pales before this shared commitment to the dignity and worth of every human being. Whether we pray in Arabic, Malay, Sanskrit, Latin, Hebrew, or English; whether we worship on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday - these differences fade before our shared concern for human welfare. 

20. Every tradition recognises that humanity is interconnected - that the suffering of one diminishes all, and the healing of one benefit the whole. For Muslims, the Quran makes this absolutely clear, in chapter 22 verse 40: “Had God not repelled ˹the aggression of˺ some people by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God’s name is often invoked would have been destroyed.” 

21. If there is a need for the clearest evidence on what can happen when we do not care about others, it is what we are witnessing in our world today. If there is a time more urgent for neighbourly relations to heal and to strengthen, it is now.

22. Every faith represented here calls us to protect the innocent, to comfort the afflicted, and to pursue peace. Let those teachings guide our response to troubling news: with prayer, measured action, and solidarity for those who suffer - not with suspicion towards our neighbours. 

23. Many of us here, leaders of our respective communities, speak with one voice on this – unequivocally, strongly, and consistently. 

24. The conflicts of the world will test us, but they need not break us. The pain of distant suffering will profoundly touch us, but it need not divide us. Our different traditions will continue to shape us, but our shared humanity will unite us.  

25. May Allah bless our efforts to live in harmony and to show mercy to the afflicted and help us preserve the delicate balance we have achieved with wisdom and compassion, a balance that has kept us united and allowed our society to thrive. Selamat Hari Raya, peace be upon you all, and please enjoy the rest of the evening.