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Syariah High Court lets Muslim convert renounce Islam and go back to Buddhism
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Convert allowed to leave Islam
©New Straits Times
(Used by permission)
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Syariah court allows convert to renounce Islam
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Zahid: Respect the decision
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'Process should be made easier'
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Tan wants to move on, get a boyfriend
GEORGE TOWN: Silence descended on the Syariah High Court here yesterday as judge
Othman Ibrahim delivered a no-holds-barred decision in favour of a convert who
wanted to renounce Islam.
He chastised the Penang Islamic Religious Council for failing
to ensure that new converts understood the teachings of Islam.
He said it was regrettable that the council had neglected its duties and did not
act quickly enough to save Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's akidah (faith).
"It is their obligation to encourage, support, help and ensure that new converts
understand and follow Islamic teachings. However, in this case nothing was done
until the last moment when it was already too late."
Othman said the council only entered its representations in Siti Fatimah's case
at the end of the trial despite having been served notice at the start.
He said the council should establish clear procedural and supervisory guidelines
on conversions "in and out" of Islam.
Othman said the Siti Fatimah case was similar to Nyonya Tahir's as it involved
converts who never practised Islam.
In the Nyonya Tahir case, the Seremban Syariah High Court last year decided that
the 89-year-old Malay woman was a non-Muslim when she died. It allowed her
family to bury her according to Buddhist rites.
Nyonya was born in 1918 in Alor Gajah, Malacca, and was raised by her
grandmother, who was a Malay married to a Chinese convert.
However, the court took into consideration evidence from Nyonya Tahir's family
that she had been raised as a Buddhist and had never practised Islam.
She had consistently adopted the Chinese way of life.
In his judgment, Othman detailed the meaning of murtad (apostate) and
kafir (non-believer) and how Islam dealt with the two.
He said becoming an apostate was a great sin in Islam and its punishment severe,
to the extent that one who renounced the religion could be sentenced to death.
However, he said in Siti Fatimah's case she had not followed Islamic teachings
from her conversion onwards and remained a Buddhist.
He said her husband, Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian, had failed to guide and assist
her on her newly-acquired faith. This was compounded by the council's failure to
follow up after her conversion.
Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz, who represented the council, said he planned to appeal
the decision within the stipulated 14 days.
Syariah court allows convert to renounce Islam
by Sharanjit Singh
GEORGE TOWN: In a landmark decision, the Syariah High Court here allowed a
Muslim convert to renounce Islam and return to her Buddhist faith.
Syariah High Court judge Othman Ibrahim said the court had no
choice but to declare Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, whose given name is Tan Ean
Huang, no longer a Muslim as she had never practised the teachings of Islam.
He also ordered her conversion certificate to be annulled.
Othman said it was now up to Tan to apply to the National Registration
Department to change the religious status on her identity card.
In his judgment, Othman criticised the Penang Islamic Religious Council (MAIP)
for failing to live up to its responsibilities to Muslims in the state.
He said the council's failure was among the causes leading to
Tan not practising the faith.
His judgment detailed the meaning of murtad (apostate) and kafir (non-believer)
and how Islam dealt with such issues.
Othman declared that the court had no choice but to allow Tan's application as
she had produced undisputed evidence of never having followed Islamic teachings
since she converted.
"We have heard how she converted for the sake of marrying an Iranian man.
"Witnesses have also testified how she continued to pray at Chinese temples and
to various deities after her conversion," Othman said.
Tan has been fighting for almost two years to renounce Islam and revert to
Buddhism.
Tan, 39, of Nibong Tebal filed an application on July 10, 2006, claiming that
she had embraced Islam just for the sake of marrying an Iranian named Ferdoun
Ashanian.
In her affidavit to renounce the religion, Siti Fatimah said she had never
practised any of the Islamic teachings despite having converted in July 1998.
She said her lifestyle did not change and she continued to follow Buddhist
teachings and to pray to various deities like the Tua Pek Kong, Kuan Yin and Thi
Kong.
Siti Fatimah said she and her husband even consumed pork after their marriage.
The couple was married in 2004 but the man left her after just four months. Siti
Fatimah claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts.
She wanted MAIP to declare she was no longer a Muslim under Section 61(3) of the
Penang Islamic Administration Enactment.
She also wanted the court to change the religious status on her identity card
from Muslim to Buddhist.
The court initially ordered that she learn more about Islam and to undergo three
months of counselling with the Penang Islamic Religious Department's unit ukhwah
(brotherhood) to ensure she understood the religion.
However, she only attended the session once and remained steadfast in wanting to
revert to Buddhism.
Zahid: Respect the decision
KUALA LUMPUR: Respect the decision of the court. This is the advice of the
Minister in the Prime Minister's department, Datuk Zahid Hamidi.
"The syariah court made the decision after the advisory
council had counselled Tan but she did not want to change."
Zahid said there was no federal law to prevent anyone from leaving Islam.
"Currently, the only state with a syariah that did not allow anyone to leave the
faith is Negri Sembilan. Penang does not have this law."
'Process should be made easier'
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity,
Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) has mixed feelings over the decision by
the Penang Syariah High Court's decision to permit a Chinese Muslim convert to
revert to her original faith.
Council president Datuk A Vaithilingam said he was happy that
Tan Ean Huang (Siti Fatimah) was now free to practise her Buddhist faith again
but it should have been made easier for her to return to her original faith.
"A person should have the freedom to profess his or her own religion without
administrative hurdles, enforced counselling and having to wait years for her
own faith to be officially recognised."
"Religious freedom is something dear to all Malaysians. We should be allowed to
worship the Supreme Being in our own way."
Vaithilingam stressed that Article 11(1) of the Federal Constitution must be
respected. Article 11(1) provides that every person has the right to profess and
practise his own religion.
"The council believes that a simple registration procedure
should be implemented to allow persons to have their religion officially
recognised, according to their own wishes.
"We also believe that religious conversion, be it into or out of Islam, cannot
be used as an excuse to avoid one's obligations to one's family."
Tan wants to move on, get a boyfriend
GEORGE TOWN: "All I want to do now is find a boyfriend and get on with my life."
That was the immediate response of a relieved Tan Ean Huang,
39, who was finally allowed to renounce Islam after two years of litigation at
the Syariah High Court.
Tan, whose Muslim name was Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, said she looked forward to
leading a normal life again.
"It has been traumatic for me while my case was pending.
"However, now that it is finally over I hope to move on. I also hope to be able
to find a boyfriend now that the issue surrounding my religious status has been
cleared up."
She said it had been difficult to build up a relationship
with Chinese men as they were afraid of getting tangled up in the religious
issue.
Tan, who is the eldest of eight siblings, said she was thankful for her family's
support.
"They were there for me and I plan to treat them to a big dinner with my mother
on Mothers Day."
Tan was speaking after the Syariah High Court here allowed her application to
renounce Islam.
She initially did not fully understand judge Othman Ibrahim's decision, which
was read out in Bahasa Malaysia interspersed with Arabic. It was only outside
the court that her lawyer, Ahmad Jailani Abdul Ghani, explained the decision.
However, she took fright when a reporter told her that the Penang Islamic
Religious Council (MAIP) planned to appeal the decision. Ahmad Jailani advised
her to calm down as it was normal procedure and she had nothing to fear.
After talking to the press, Tan accompanied by an unidentified family member
drove to the Goddess of Mercy temple in Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling to offer
prayers.
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Circular No 181/2008 : 22nd Sultan Azlan Shah Law Lecture
