SIS warns of potential ‘backdoor’ laws via FT’s mufti bill

Sisters in Islam warned that the proposed Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill 2024, if passed into law, could limit Islamic jurisprudence in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

A women’s rights group has warned that the proposed Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill 2024, if passed, could facilitate the creation of “backdoor” laws through a misuse of fatwas.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) advocacy, legal services and research manager Waheda Rufin said this process could be utilised to indirectly criminalise certain acts, bypassing altogether the legislative process.

She said a fatwa, once gazetted, cannot be questioned, and may be prosecuted under Section 12 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997.

“For instance, instead of criminalising sodomy, a fatwa could be issued declaring same-sex relationships forbidden (haram). So, instead of criminalising the act of sodomy, they just criminalise the act of defying the fatwa, not the action itself.

This process allows a law to be made outside of Parliament and the state assemblies, she said during a media briefing on Wednesday.

Waheda pointed out that in February, the Federal Court struck down an attempt to introduce sodomy as a shariah offence, holding that the Kelantan state assembly was not competent to include it as an offence in the state’s Syariah Criminal Code.

The gazetting of a fatwa would potentially allow the Islamic authorities to introduce the same law via the “backdoor”, she said.

SIS said another central issue lies in Clauses 13 and 14 of the bill, which allows the FT fatwa committee to consult the Muzakarah Committee, a key body within the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs, on the issuance of fatwas affecting “national interest”.

The group warned that if both committees concur, the FT mufti may issue a fatwa on the subject which will have the force of law upon gazettement.

Another contentious aspect of the bill, SIS said, was the narrowing of accepted Islamic jurisprudence schools, which could limit broader Islamic scholarship in the country and fuel sectarian divisions.

SIS communications manager Ameena Siddiqi said the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993 presently allows for Islamic law and practice to be interpreted according to any recognised mazhab.

Ameena Siddiqi.

Section 3 of the bill, however, seeks to restrict the practice of Islam to only the four major Sunni schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i and Hanbali.

“The proposed bill would revoke the autonomy of Muslims in the Federal Territories to practice schools of thought of their choice, which is contrary to Islamic jurisprudence’s inherent diversity,” she said.

The bill, which was tabled for its first reading last July, has encountered significant opposition from various groups, including Muslim scholars and political figures.

It is scheduled for debate during the ongoing Dewan Rakyat meeting. - FMT