UCAN News (http://www.ucanews.com)
Muslims vow to keep shari’a to themselves, 18 May 2010
KUALA LUMPUR (UCAN) — The Muslim Lawyers Association says it will fight a civil court’s decision to hear a challenge to a rule banning non-Muslim lawyers from a Syariah Court (shari’a court).
The Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur is one of three of the country’s 14 territories and states with such a ban.
Victoria Jayaseelee Martin, a Christian lawyer, on May 14 won approval from the High Court to challenge the rule. The date for the hearing is yet to be fixed.
The opposition Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) wants the National Fatwa Council to set guidelines.
Martin has said she wants to be a shari’a lawyer to handle cases such as custody battles for children where one spouse had converted to Islam and where Muslims had renounced their faith.
Acting in the interests of non-Muslims
Magdelene Selvarajah, a social worker, said some Muslim lawyers are sympathetic to non-Muslims’ custody battles, “but they don’t dare take up such cases as it would be seen as going against Islam. So why not allow a non-Muslim, a person who is competent in shari’a law, to do so?”
After graduating from the University of London, Martin in 2004 obtained a diploma in shari’a law and practice from the International Islamic University of Malaysia.
A Muslim lawyer who asked not to be named said, “A recognized university has conferred upon her a diploma. She has been deemed competent. She should be allowed to appear in the Syariah Court.”
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