Legal Reforms in Islamic Law
Conventional accounts trace the Islamisation policy of the Malaysian federal government since the 80s to the rise of the dakwah (i.e. religious revival) movement, since the late 1970s.[803] Especially during the term in office of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed (1981-2003), the regime implemented a strategic and proactive promotion of Islamism to co-opt and undercut Islamist movements and parties.[804] Islamic institutions of banking, finance and education proliferated.
Examples are the Institute of Islamic Understanding and the International Islamic University of Malaysia (iium). Yet, as Moustafa points out, many mosques and prayer houses were also either constructed or renovated, primary and secondary education curricula and radio and television content were adapted, “to include more material on Islamic civilisation, but it was in the field of law and legal institutions that the most consequential innovations were made.’[805] Striking examples include the institutional restructuring and upgrading of the Islamic judiciary and religious bureaucracy, and by substantive reforms in Islamic family, evidence, procedure and criminal law. Regarding the religious bureaucracy - elaborating on this would go beyond the reach of this chapter - we want to underscore that authorities were restructured and created with a monopoly on religious interpretation, backed by the power of the state.[806] [807] These include the Islamic Religious Council (Majlis Agama Islam) and the office of the Mufti. The Mufti is empowered to issue fatwas that, upon publication, are binding for Muslims. Under Article 9 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Act of the federal territories (a provision which also exists in the Syariah criminal offences laws of other states), each person who acts, “in contempt of religious authority or defies, disobeys or disputes the orders or directions of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as the Head of the Religion of Islam, the Majlis or the Mufti, expressed or given by way of fatwa”, is guilty of an offence punishable with a maximum fine of 3000 ringgit or a maximum prison sentence of two years. Other articles of this act criminalise the communication of an opinion and the possession of materials that contain opinions contrary to a fatwa (articles 12-13).43 Moreover, article 34 on Fatwa of the 505 Act Administration of Islamic law (federal territories) Act 1993 states that, “Upon publication in the Gazette, a fatwa shall be binding on every Muslim resident in the Federal Territories as a dictate of his religion and it shall be his religious duty to abide by and uphold the fatwa, unless he is permitted by Islamic Law to depart from the fatwa in matters of personal observance, belief, or opinion”, and that, “A fatwa shall be recognised by all Courts in the Federal Territories as authoritative of all matters laid down therein”.4.1
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