Negotiating Apostasy: Applying to “Leave Islam” in Malaysia

In Malaysia, freedom of religion has clear limitations, especially regarding Muslims wishing to leave Islam, who may currently find it difficult to secure legal acceptance. However, such applications are received under a Sharia legal provision in Negeri Sembilan - the only state in Malaysia that all...

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Détails bibliographiques
Auteurs: Samuri, Mohd Al Adib (Auteur) ; Quraishi, Muzammil (Auteur)
Type de support: Électronique Article
Langue:Anglais
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Publié: Taylor & Francis [2014]
Dans: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Année: 2014, Volume: 25, Numéro: 4, Pages: 507-523
RelBib Classification:BJ Islam
KBM Asie
TK Époque contemporaine
XA Droit
Sujets non-standardisés:B Sharia Court
B Apostasy
B Malaysian Islamic law
Accès en ligne: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Résumé:In Malaysia, freedom of religion has clear limitations, especially regarding Muslims wishing to leave Islam, who may currently find it difficult to secure legal acceptance. However, such applications are received under a Sharia legal provision in Negeri Sembilan - the only state in Malaysia that allows a Muslim to change his religion for reasonable cause. The application is made at the Sharia High Court, and is then forwarded to the Mufti's Department, which in turn arranges a consultation for the applicant to reconsider his decision. This article critically reviews this process of application to leave Islam and also provides a clear mapping of principal court decisions and an analysis of the legal rationale for accepting some applications and refusing others. The paper is critical of the disproportionate discretion afforded to Muslim bureaucrats in the Mufti's Department with regard to determining an individual's religious rights and argues that, in Malaysia, the power to legally determine or classify religion should be confined to the Sharia Court. Finally, the article evaluates how “applications to leave Islam” are reconciled with and distinguished from the Islamic prohibition of “apostasy” and so is relevant to Islamic countries beyond Malaysia.
ISSN:1469-9311
Contient:Enthalten in: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410.2014.907054