Children’s father wants us to defend conversion, says mufti

 

Asri Zainul Abidin claims that he met with the twin girls over satay well before he posted the video on his Instagram account recently.

GEORGE TOWN: Single mother Loh Siew Hong’s former husband reached out to the Perlis religious authorities recently and asked that his children’s conversion to Islam be defended.

Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin claimed the father of the three children aged 10 to 14 had called the religious authorities from a prison in Kelantan, where the man was reported to be serving a drug-related sentence until November.

The mufti had earlier said that Loh’s ex-husband had converted to Islam in Perlis with his three children.

“We have no objections if the children do not want to be Muslims. However, the father called from prison asking us to defend his children’s conversion,” Asri said.

“The man’s family, who are Hindus, had also come to Perlis asking for the children’s (conversion) to be defended. These are Hindu people, gentlemen. We are not against Hindus, but we fight extremists who concoct untruths,” he said in a religious sermon streamed live on Facebook tonight.

“These children told me that they wanted to be Muslims way before their father converted.”

Asri praised the man’s twin daughters, aged 14, who he said were adept at reciting Quranic verses and wore the tudung.

“Perlis has never forced people to convert to Islam. In fact, in 2015, we came up with a fatwa that is recognised to be the most harmonious in the country,” he said.

He was referring to an edict issued by the Perlis Fatwa Committee in July 2015, stating that a child’s welfare takes priority over religion in custody battles involving Muslim convert and non-Muslim parents.

Meanwhile, Asri also addressed the controversy over his meeting with Loh’s children over satay, while the mother had not been allowed to see them.

He said he had met the children well before he posted the video of the meeting on his Instagram account.

“Due to the current Covid-19 restrictions at the welfare department (JKM) safe house, visits were subsequently limited,” he added.

“The mother decided to have her kids placed in JKM. We are not against the mother having custody of her children.

“The mother has the court papers. But her children didn’t want to follow their mother when they met in Kangar.” - FMT