Malaysia\u2019s highest court issued a groundbreaking ruling on Friday, deeming more than a dozen Islamic laws enacted by the state of Kelantan as unconstitutional. This landmark decision holds significant implications for similar sharia laws across the Muslim-majority nation.<\/p>\n
In Malaysia, a dual-track legal system operates, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims alongside secular laws. While Islamic laws are enacted by state legislatures, secular laws are passed by Malaysia\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n
A nine-member Federal Court bench, in an 8-1 decision, invalidated 16 laws within Kelantan\u2019s sharia criminal code. These laws included provisions criminalising sodomy, incest, gambling, sexual harassment, and the desecration of places of worship.<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, delivering the majority judgement, stated that Kelantan had overstepped its authority in enacting these laws, as the subject matter falls under parliament\u2019s law-making powers.<\/p>\n
Kelantan, governed by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), has advocated for a stricter interpretation of Islamic law. PAS has witnessed increased popularity, particularly among Malaysia\u2019s majority ethnic Malay Muslims, posing a challenge to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim\u2019s multi-ethnic ruling coalition.<\/p>\n
The constitutional challenge was initiated by a Kelantanese lawyer and her daughter against sharia laws passed by the state legislature in 2021.<\/p>\n
While the case stirred controversy among conservative Muslim groups, Justice Tengku Maimun clarified that it solely concerned the legality of Kelantan\u2019s legislative actions, not the position of Islam in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Following the ruling, Religious Affairs Minister Mohd Na\u2019im Mokhtar assured that the government\u2019s Islamic authorities would fortify sharia courts, affirming their protection under the federal constitution.<\/p>\n
Kelantan government official Mohamed Fazli Hassan expressed disappointment with the verdict, indicating the state\u2019s intent to confer with its royal ruler, Sultan Muhammad V, on matters concerning Islamic law. In Malaysia, nine of the 13 states are led by monarchs who serve as guardians of Islam.<\/p>\n
Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod, a law professor at Malaysia\u2019s Taylor\u2019s University, suggested that Friday\u2019s decision could trigger a \u201cdomino effect,\u201d prompting challenges to sharia laws in other states. He advocated for a review of states\u2019 jurisdiction over Islamic law, proposing amendments to the constitution to mitigate conflicts between sharia and civil laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Malaysia\u2019s highest court declares Kelantan\u2019s Islamic laws unconstitutional, sparking potential challenges to sharia laws across the Muslim-majority nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":371,"featured_media":14512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[220,506,771,9427,9426,305,9429,9428,5180,9431,9425,586,9430,9432,9424],"class_list":["post-14510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-malaysia","tag-islam","tag-islamic","tag-kelantan","tag-kelantanese","tag-malay-muslim","tag-malaysia","tag-mohamed-fazli-hassan","tag-mohd-naim-mokhtar","tag-muslim","tag-nik-ahmad-kamal-nik-mahmod","tag-parti-islam-se-malaysia-pas","tag-prime-minister-anwar-ibrahim","tag-sultan-muhammad-v","tag-taylors-university","tag-tengku-maimun-tuan-mat"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/371"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}