Shifting from a Mono-Religious to a Multi-Religious Syllabus in Malaysia

UM Research
22 minutes ago
4 min read

In a vibrant, multi-ethnic country like Malaysia, multiculturalism is experienced every day, in food courts, workplaces, and neighbourhoods. Yet, inside the classroom, students often learn about religion in isolation.

Islamic Education (Pendidikan Islam) in Malaysian secondary schools naturally focuses on core theological beliefs, worship, and moral ethics. But how well does it prepare young Muslims to navigate, respect, and coexist with neighbours of different faiths?

Unfamiliarity and Misunderstanding

These were keywords shared by Prof. Dr. Asyraf Isyraqi based on what he learned through research and published literature on the root cause of tensions between secondary school students in Malaysia, especially amongst multi-religious communities. It is due to the lack on familiarity with people of other religion as well as misunderstanding and misinterpreting culture with religion that causes the divisive polemic in Malaysia.

Status Quo in Classrooms Reflects Outwards

For decades, religious education in Malaysia has largely operated in silos. Muslim students attend Islamic Education classes, while non-Muslim peers attend Moral Education. While this structure builds strong individual identity, it can leave little room in the formal syllabus for learning about others.

Misunderstandings often stem from unfamiliarity. Without a structured framework, young people may rely on social media or stereotypes to form opinions about other religions. By introducing carefully designed interreligious elements directly into the Islamic Education syllabus, educators can equip students with both a strong foundation in their own faith and the social tools needed for peaceful coexistence (tasamuh).

Way Moving Forward to Encourage Understanding

Based on Prof. Dr. Asyraf’s research, there are four (4) steps to move towards a better understanding of each other, especially when looked through the Muslim student’s point of view. The objective, content taught, method of delivery as well as the assessment administered that would determine whether a model is sound enough to be developed further into a module to be trialled.

This diagram illustrates a four-part Curriculum Development Framework. It outlines the core components of an educational model: Objective focuses on fostering understanding and practicing good interactions; Content covers basic knowledge of religions in Malaysia and how to interact; Teaching Strategy emphasizes encouraging questions, constructive teaching, dialogues, and fieldwork; and Assessment incorporates formative, summative, project presentation, and class-based evaluations.

Challenges in Shifting to Multi-Religious Syllabus for Islamic Teaching

Now shifting from the status quo of a mono-religious syllabus to a multi-religious syllabus is not an easy task as not many countries are able to get it right. This is because it requires understanding boundaries of each religion when it comes to educating co-existence as well as respecting the belief systems as well as taboos of the religion.

In addition, in a multireligious country like Malaysia, systemic changes such as the revamping of a syllabus in Islamic Studies needs to be treaded carefully for fear of relativism or pluralism, as well as pushback from society. Proper consultation with education groups as well as the community needs to be conducted prior to implementation of such a model. However, it needs to be stressed on the benefits of such a system that far outweighs the disadvantages.

A Solid Foundation begets a Solid System

Photo from Wikipedia, with the caption "The Brethren of Purity were a medieval secret society, consisting of Islamic philosophers, here seen in an illustration from the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, c. 1287." — Photo from Wikipedia, with the caption "*The Brethren of Purity were a medieval secret society, consisting of Islamic philosophers, here seen in an illustration from the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, c. 1287."*

Prof. Dr. Asyraf also wishes to highlight and develop further what scholars back in the 9^th and 10^th century did, which was to learn more about other religions and develop more research that can then be used as guides for Muslims around the world to better co-exist with others.

By developing an Islamic Multireligious Framework using methodology used by researchers of the past like Al-Biruni, Ibn Hazm and Al-Ghazali, he hopes to develop that solid foundation that can also be used to foster better relationships amongst people of various religious backgrounds, and ultimately, be more familiar with each other and have a better understanding of one’s religion.

Researcher featured:

Prof. Dr. Asyraf Isyraqi bin Jamil

Department of Islamic History, Civilisation and Education,

Academy of Islamic Studies, Universiti Malaya

Area of Expertise:

Education > Religious Studies > Islamic Education

Get to know the researcher:

A polyglot, Prof. Dr. Asyraf is currently serving dual-roles, firstly as a senior lecturer at the Islamic Education Programme, Academy of Islamic Studies, UM, secondly as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and Global Networking at UniSIRAJ (formerly known as Kolej Universiti Islam Perlis). Prof. Dr. Asyraf has also won multiple awards for his research on Islamic education and published various books on the Islamic world, as well as the owner of several patents and IP rights.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Email: isyraqi@um.edu.my

Tel: +60379676183

Scopus ID: http://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=57214093836

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7227-3003

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Asyraf-Isyraqi-Bin-Jamil

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FaBbPL8AAAAJ

SDGs Addressed: