Bid to renounce Islam: Civil court denies Eurasian's appeal

A Eurasian woman has failed in her appeal to obtain leave to commence legal action to leave Islam and embrace Confucianism and Buddhism.

A three-person Court of Appeal bench chaired by Azizah Nawawi this morning unanimously denied the 33-year-old's appeal for leave to initiate judicial review over her religious status.

Speaking on behalf of other member judges See Mee Chun and Azizul Azmi Adnan, Azizah ruled that only the Syariah Court has the exclusive jurisdiction to determine issues of renunciation per Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution.

She ruled that the Kuala Lumpur High Court last year, in dismissing the woman’s judicial review leave application, had correctly decided that the civil court has no power to hear the legal action as the case involved the renunciation of the Islamic faith.

Azizah pointed out that the civil court is not a superior court against the Syariah Court, but rather that the Federal Constitution has ensured that both form separate judicial systems in Malaysia.

No power

The woman was represented by counsel Fahri Azzat, while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi appeared for the government, who is one of the respondents targeted by the judicial review.

The other three respondents are the Federal Territory Syariah Appeal Court, the Federal Territory Syariah High Court, and the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP).

The woman’s appeal targeted the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on June 15 last year, which ruled that a civil court (such as itself) has no power to grant judicial review leave on renunciation issues as such matters fall under the Syariah Court.

Born to Muslim parents in Johor in 1990, she went to the civil court in March last year, after two stages of the religious court - the Federal Territory Syariah High Court and the Federal Territory Syariah Appeal Court - denied her bid to renounce Islam.

According to the civil action cause papers, the woman, born to a Muslim convert man and a Muslim-born woman on Feb 8, 1990, allegedly went through a multi-year failed bid at the syariah courts to leave the religion and officially take on Confucianism and Buddhism.

Free rein

The woman claimed the Syariah High Court and Court of Appeal refused her bid as they held it would go against hukum syarak (Islamic principles) to allow a fellow Muslim to leave the faith.

The woman - whose parents have since divorced - claimed her Muslim mother never forced Islam on her and gave her free rein to determine her own faith.

She claimed her father only converted to Islam to marry her mother and that her parents never practised the faith.

Contending that she neither practised Islam nor even recited the kalimah syahadah, she initially went to the Federal Territory Syariah High Court to try to renounce Islam.

The kalimah syahadah - one of the five pillars of Islam - is an Islamic oath that reads “I bear witness that there is no deity but God (Allah), and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God”.

Continuous Islamic classes

The woman alleged that on Dec 10, 2018, the Syariah High Court ordered her to attend 12 pre-trial aqidah (faith) counselling sessions for a six-month period beginning Jan 14, 2019.

She said she then took leave from her employment in Oman and flew back to Malaysia to attend the 12 sessions which, in the end, managed to be completed between Jan 14 and 25 that year.

The woman claimed her mother and her mother’s close friend testified before the Syariah High Court over her faith in Confucianism and Buddhism.

She alleged, however, that on July 27, 2020, the Syariah High Court dismissed her bid and instructed her to undergo istitabah under MAIWP or the “Mufti’s Office”.

Under the country’s syariah system, istitabah refers to faith rehabilitation.

She claimed that the court also ordered her to undergo continuous Islamic classes as well as more aqidah counselling. - Mkini