"As a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations...."
Looks like marriage isn't forever, but some other decisions are.Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
- Article XVIII, Universal Declaration of Human Rights -
I read this article today with great disbelief.
A few days ago, I first read about how, in a landmark ruling, the Sharia Court allowed a woman to renounce being a Muslim. Upon reading the facts, it started to appear less ground-breaking and more common sense: this woman wasn't born a Muslim but a Buddhist, and she 'converted' only to marry a Muslim, who left her months later, and she never practised the religion. In fact, when the ruling was to her favour, she said she wanted to "go to the temple to pray and give thanks".
In fact, to state it more accurately, it is not that she is allowed to "convert out", as the lawyer for the Penang Islamic Affairs Council says, but she is being allowed to revert to Buddhism instead [note proper use of 'revert'].
This really appeared to me to be an open-and-shut case, so I was really astounded to read that this hardline group had submitted a memorandum for judicial review, even stating that according to Islamic law, anyone "who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death". Can anyone see how this runs smack contrary to Article XVIII of the UDHR above? Why are these people creating so much ruckus over someone else's choice of religion and forcing her to follow what they want her to follow?
I don't understand: what is the point of forcing this woman to remain a Muslim, even when she doesn't practise it, let alone believe it?
If I were Mdm Tan Ean Huang, I'd get my IC changed now, now, now.http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_238033.html
May 16, 2008
M'sian muslims protest ruling on renunciation of Islam
PENANG (Malaysia) - A GROUP of Muslims in Malaysia's northern Penang state staged a protest on Friday to denounce an Islamic sharia court's rare ruling allowing a Chinese convert to renounce her faith.
Last week the Penang Sharia Court allowed 38-year-old Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, or Tan Ean Huang, to renounce Islam and return to Buddhism.
Siti, a cook, told the court she had never practised Islamic teachings since converting in 1998 to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
The couple married in 1999 but her husband left her months later and she filed for renunciation two years ago.
Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia, an Islamic hardline group, gathered outside the court and submitted a memorandum urging a judicial review of the decision.
'We outrightly disagree with the court decision as it is against Islamic laws. In Islam, a person who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death,' the group's president Abdul Hakim Othman told reporters.
Apostasy, or renouncing the faith, is one of the gravest sins in Islam and a very sensitive issue in Malaysia where Islamic sharia courts have rarely allowed such renunciations and have also jailed apostates.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 per cent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays.
The Islamic sharia courts operate in parallel to civil courts but apply specifically to Muslims. -- AFP
§ Technorati tags:
news bites;
religion
- Article XVIII, Universal Declaration of Human Rights -
I read this article today with great disbelief.
A few days ago, I first read about how, in a landmark ruling, the Sharia Court allowed a woman to renounce being a Muslim. Upon reading the facts, it started to appear less ground-breaking and more common sense: this woman wasn't born a Muslim but a Buddhist, and she 'converted' only to marry a Muslim, who left her months later, and she never practised the religion. In fact, when the ruling was to her favour, she said she wanted to "go to the temple to pray and give thanks".
In fact, to state it more accurately, it is not that she is allowed to "convert out", as the lawyer for the Penang Islamic Affairs Council says, but she is being allowed to revert to Buddhism instead [note proper use of 'revert'].
This really appeared to me to be an open-and-shut case, so I was really astounded to read that this hardline group had submitted a memorandum for judicial review, even stating that according to Islamic law, anyone "who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death". Can anyone see how this runs smack contrary to Article XVIII of the UDHR above? Why are these people creating so much ruckus over someone else's choice of religion and forcing her to follow what they want her to follow?
I don't understand: what is the point of forcing this woman to remain a Muslim, even when she doesn't practise it, let alone believe it?
If I were Mdm Tan Ean Huang, I'd get my IC changed now, now, now.http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_238033.html
May 16, 2008
M'sian muslims protest ruling on renunciation of Islam
PENANG (Malaysia) - A GROUP of Muslims in Malaysia's northern Penang state staged a protest on Friday to denounce an Islamic sharia court's rare ruling allowing a Chinese convert to renounce her faith.
Last week the Penang Sharia Court allowed 38-year-old Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, or Tan Ean Huang, to renounce Islam and return to Buddhism.
Siti, a cook, told the court she had never practised Islamic teachings since converting in 1998 to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
The couple married in 1999 but her husband left her months later and she filed for renunciation two years ago.
Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia, an Islamic hardline group, gathered outside the court and submitted a memorandum urging a judicial review of the decision.
'We outrightly disagree with the court decision as it is against Islamic laws. In Islam, a person who insists on leaving the religion must be punished with death,' the group's president Abdul Hakim Othman told reporters.
Apostasy, or renouncing the faith, is one of the gravest sins in Islam and a very sensitive issue in Malaysia where Islamic sharia courts have rarely allowed such renunciations and have also jailed apostates.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, where more than 60 per cent of its 27 million people are Muslim Malays.
The Islamic sharia courts operate in parallel to civil courts but apply specifically to Muslims. -- AFP
§ Technorati tags:
news bites;
religion