Muftis should discuss centralising shariah law, says Anwar

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim says the muftis must show a lot of understanding of the stark realities.

SHAH ALAM: PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said there should be a discussion among the different state muftis on centralising the shariah law after a former mufti said the authorities should adopt a single courts system with uniformed Islamic laws.

Anwar said there was wisdom in the proposal but emphasised that some aspects of shariah law should be interpreted neutrally.

“They must show a lot of understanding of the stark realities,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 2020 Regional Conference on Peaceful Coexistence here today.

Previously, former Terengganu mufti Ismail Yahya said the application of different sets of Islamic laws across the states is the reason why Muslims in Malaysia were being deprived of justice.

The former mufti said the campaign to stop underage marriage among Muslims had failed as some states have the power to allow a girl as young as 16 to tie the knot.

However, he said, there were success stories in the centralisation of some Islamic matters such as Tabung Haji and Islamic banking. - FMT