Talk with Fatwa Council in 2012 did not touch on liberalism, says SIS

Sisters in Islam (SIS) executive director Ratna Osman (left) and Zainah Anwar at a press conference recently. The NGO says it has not been given the opportunity to defend itself from accusations of promoting liberalism and religious pluralism. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, November 10, 2014.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) today confirmed there was a meeting with the Selangor Fatwa Council in 2012 but it was not about “liberalism” and “pluralism”, which had been used as a basis to brand the organisation as deviant.

The NGO said in a statement that the January 12 meeting only discussed their activities and research findings.

SIS insisted that it had not been given the opportunity to defend itself from accusations of promoting liberalism and religious pluralism before the religious authorities issued and gazetted the fatwa against the group in July this year.

The NGO said it was disappointed and puzzled by the Selangor mufti’s statement, as reported by the media on November 7, had cited the meeting as “evidence” that they had met on the issue of religious liberalism and pluralism.

“If the Fatwa Council suspected that SIS subscribes to religious liberalism and pluralism, why did they not raise their concerns and make attempts to advise us at the time?

“Why is it that the fatwa declaring SIS as ‘sesat dan menyeleweng daripada ajaran Islam’ was only issued 2½ years later?” SIS asked.

MORE TO COME

- TMI