Boy’s pork lunch snowballs into status of father’s faith

There are no official court records to prove that Beginda Minda @ Noor Azman Abdullah, whose son was caned for bringing pork to a school in Sarawak, has left Islam, the national Islamic authority said today.

The Malaysian Islamic Development department (Jakim) said the father’s apostasy has not been proven, furthering the debate on the 10-year-old boy’s faith.

“We have no official records that prove that there was a court ruling; legally speaking, since there is no information, no court ruling, that means the Syariah Court did not decide in this case,” Jakim director-general Datuk Wan Mohamed Sheikh Abdul Aziz said today.

He told The Malaysian Insider that he personally “hoped” that individuals who have embraced Islam would remain Muslim despite “mistakes” in their daily lifestyle practices.

The Sarawak Islamic Affairs Department has also confirmed that they have no records to show that Beginda had become a Muslim and left Islam within the span of the last 10 years.

“To our understanding, a Muslim is still a Muslim until the Syariah Court decides otherwise,” added Wan Mohamed.

The issue of Noor Azman’s religion was raised when his son, Basil, was reportedly caned by his schoolteacher in Sarawak after he brought non-halal food to school.

Pork is considered a non-halal (non-kosher) meat to Muslims and Hebrews.

It was, however, later claimed that the boy had been wrongfully caned since he was not a Muslim.

The issue stirred a debate in Parliament last week, when ex-PKR MP Zulkifli Noordin claimed that Nor Azman had dual identities — that of a Muslim and a non-Muslim.

Zulkifli said that when Noor Azman was a witness in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s trial in 1998, he had used his Muslim name, although his marriage certificate did not indicate a specific religion.

Zulkifli also claimed that Noor Azman ran for office in 1999 general election and the Sarawak elections in 2000 under his Muslim name.

In response, Wan Mohamed said investigations were underway and that Jakim would only take action after certain questions were answered.

On Wednesday, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said in Parliament that the government needed to determine Noor Azman’s religious status before deciding on the caning incident.

“Only then can we come to a conclusion as to why the boy was caned,” said Nazri.

Noor Azman has been reported as saying that he was a no longer a Muslim and had left the religion in 1999. - Malaysian Insider