Promoting inter-religious harmony through university-community engagement project: a case study of the educational visit to places of worship (EDVIST)

• Main Author: Mohd Nor, Nur Suriya
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: BL Religion; BP171 Relation of Islam to other religions
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/75071/15/75071%20invitation%20letter%2C%20schedule%20and%20certificate.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/75071/2/75071%20PROMOTING%20INTER-RELIGIOUS%20HARMONY%20.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/75071/

Background: National integration is one of the Malaysian Core Values i.e. Core Value 3. It can be achieved by multi-religious, multi-ethnics and multi-cultural Malaysia through the bonds that unify all Malaysians. The integration depends on the various communities coming together to live with mutual understanding, tolerance, and acceptance of diversity. In promoting the unity among multi-religious society Malaysia, the Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion (RKUD), Kulliyyah Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Science (KIRKHS), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) conducting a University-Community Engagement (UCE) project known as the Educational Visit to Places of Worship (EDVIST). This project is a platform to promote inter-religious harmony among Malaysians. The visit is planned as part of study tour for undergraduate students attending classes of World Religions 1 and 2 in every semester (Semester 1 and Semester 2). The purpose of the visit is to give exposure to the students to religions in Malaysia i.e. Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Chinese Religions. The activities during this visit include tour of the house of worship and dialogues. Aims: 1- To describe the nature of the Educational Visit to Places of Worship (EDVIST) 2- To highlight EDVIST as a platform to promote interreligious harmony among multi-religious society Malaysia Method (s): Conversation, Observation, and Student Journals Result: The students gave positive feedbacks on the visit. The inter-religious harmony happened during the visit, both parties managed to respect, tolerate, and understand each other. This University-Community engagement project developed a mutual understand and a good relationship among the RKUD lecturers, students, and the communities. Conclusion: By having first-hand information through the visit will surely provide better understanding to all students which may lead to better future of Malaysia.