An erstwhile software engineer, Nassir, 48, is a known figure both in the local and international Muslim circles.

The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan included him in its The 500 Most Influential Muslims publication in 2009 and 2010. The Berita Harian in 2010 named him as one of four individuals expected to lead the Singapore Muslim community in adapting religious life to the modern world.

Approachable and generous with his time, Nassir is most earnest when he recalls incidents that, in his view, demonstrate the increasing tendency of some Muslims in Singapore (and the region) to think that in order to live a religious life, they have to be insular. This line of thinking feeds into the ideology of hatred, notes Nassir, who wrote his master’s thesis on the effectiveness of counter-extremism measures in Malaysia.

For instance, Muslims who hold conservative and purist views say it is wrong to wish Merry Christmas to Christians, as that is akin to disparaging Islam. But Singapore’s “big scholars,” as Nassir puts it, have clarified that exchanging such greetings is a form of social fellowship.

He encourages me to conduct a poll among companies to find out if Muslim employees eat lunch with their non-Muslim colleagues. “99% of them will say no,” he predicts. Some Muslims, he continues, do not feel comfortable sitting at the same table with those who are consuming pork.

But he also notes that there is more awareness these days among companies on the need to provide halal food options during functions.

In Malaysia, he continues, there have been calls for separate trolleys in supermarkets for non-halal products and laundry shops that only cater to Muslim customers.

“What are we becoming?” Nassir asks rhetorically.

“We are becoming more insular. I am telling you it’s a fact.”

“In Singapore?” I ask for clarification.

“In Singapore. In Singapore, for sure,” he asserts. “Not as much as Malaysia, though.”

And then there are some who want to migrate and live in a Muslim country or village.

“I don’t know what precedence such people have to do that,” says Nassir, noting that Prophet Muhammad lived among Jewish and Christian populations.

Having just returned to Singapore after spending some years abroad, I appreciate Nassir’s insight but find it rather disconcerting. I had read about some incidents but viewed them in isolation. But as I listen to Nassir, I realise the incidents are indeed symptoms of growing insularity.

Instead of adopting a life of seclusion, Nassir says Muslims must participate in civic activities. Again, he tells me I should look up some numbers—this time, the proportion of Malays who participate in Residents’ Networks activities.

By being insular, he says, Muslims “are missing the ecological point of Islam” because “it starts from somewhere and everything is linked to another.”