I refer to the Malaysiakini report Syariah Court allows convert to renounce Islam .

I also managed to watch the interviews with the Syariah lawyer representing Siti Fatimah, Ahmad Jailani. It can be viewed here and here .

What I’ve learnt from the interview can be summed up in these points:

a. Siti Fatimah applied for her Islamic Faith status to be annulled on the grounds that she never practiced Islam and never believed in the Islamic faith.

b. Siti Fatimah took the right step by referring to the Syariah Court.

c. There was no malice on the part of Siti Fatimah or the Syariah court. The case was decided on merit.

d. The Penang Syariah court decided that Siti Fatimah was never a Muslim, to start off with, and that her conversion did not meet the standard of a Muslim.

e. Never is this a decision by the Syariah court to support apostasy or a change of religion.

I see this as a major step forward and the precedence can be applied to solve many of the ‘apostasy’ problems in Malaysia. In my analysis, most of the applications for ‘apostasy’ are made by converts who convert on the basis of marriage only.

Many of these converts never practiced or never believed in the Islamic faith. Their respective spouse was also irresponsible as they did not make any effort to educate or train their spouses in the Islamic faith.

In the event of a divorce, these ‘converts’ were left in a limbo. They don’t believe in their newly- converted to religion, but at the same time, they cannot go back to their original faith. The Penang court decision provides a legal exit for these converts. This would mean that they can go to their respective Shariah courts and get their Islamic declarations annulled.

If anything at all, the Shariah Court should punish their respective ex-spouses for not taking care of their newly converted ex-wives/husbands. There are those in our community who thinks that the solution to this problem is by disrespecting the Shariah Courts.

May I remind them that the Shariah courts in Malaysia still maintain the respect and trust of the Muslim population of Malaysia. None can equate them with the corrupted judiciary of the Malaysian civil courts where judges are up for sale at the highest bidder.

The statement from the Bar Council and I quote: ‘It should be the high court which decides on this issue as some states in Malaysia do not provide for converting out so the high court remains the best place to sort this out’is not only arrogant, but also ignorant.

Why do I use the word ignorant? Until and when the Syariah courts issue a decree nullifying the Islamic faith of an individual, that particular ‘Muslim’ is subjected to the Islamic laws and regulations, thus the Syariah courts.

In conclusion, the ‘abandoned-convert’ problem is a real problem. And the Penang Shariah court ruling provides a practical solution to a real problem. The call to battle by some are nothing more than maneuvers by ideologues trying to capitalise on public insecurity in their effort to promote their secular liberalism ideology. Mind you that the secular liberal’s stand on religion is 100% contradictory to Islam. This is a fact.

The Penang Shariah court ruling also proves that Malaysian Shariah court, while maintaining their discipline to the Islamic teachings, is also flexible and able to solve real problems of the day. It’s actually the function of ijtihad .