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Advantages Of Apostasy

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3.0 Apostasy
3.1 Whether the civil courts or the Syariah courts should have the jurisdiction to hear apostasy cases?
For Muslims, the issue of conversion out of Islam or apostasy raises significant religious and political considerations. The adoption of Islam as the religion of the Federation under Article 3 and the compulsory subjection of Muslims to the Syariah in a number of matters are reasons why the conversion of a Muslim out of Islam arouses revulsion and anger among the Malays or Muslim citizens. The controversy regarding the issue of apostasy, specifically in relation to the application the constitutional provisions for the freedom of religion to Muslims, remains unresolved. However, recently, there were some interesting decisions in both civil and Syariah courts regarding the issue of apostasy.
One of the apostasy cases is the case of Fatimah Tan Abdullah @ Tan Abdullah v. Majlis Agama Islam Pulau Pinang. The Syariah High Court allowed the application of Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah @ Tan Abdullah, 39, to obtain a declaration of …show more content…

The Federal Court, in a majority decision, affirmed the correctness of Soon Singh. The majority reasoned that since apostasy relates to Islamic law, and Islamic law is one of the matters in Item 1 of the State List under the Ninth Schedule to the Federal Constitution, apostasy clearly falls within the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court. By virtue of Article 121(1A), the civil court has no jurisdiction over the subject-matter. Soon Singh and Lina Joy have resolved all the jurisdictional problems posed by apostasy cases where all the parties are

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