Don’t have powers to review Sharia court orders’: Court rejects appeal of Malaysian man wanting to revert to Christianity after divorcing his Muslim wife
While rejecting his appeal the Kaula Lumpur HC observed that civil courts do not have the power to review decisions made by Sharia courts.
7 October 2023
A 45-year-old Malaysian man petitioned the Kuala Lumpur High Court in Malaysia to renounce Islam and return to Christianity, his original faith, after divorcing his Muslim wife. On Wednesday (October 4), the top court, however, rejected his appeal, stating that the civil courts do not have the authority to review a Sharia court’s decision, a Malaysian local media outlet reported.
According to the report, the man converted to Islam to marry a Muslim woman in 2010, however, he got divorced in 2015. After the divorce, in 2016, he filed an application in the Sharia court to renounce Islam, however, the Sharia court mandated him to attend ‘counselling sessions’.
Later, the Sharia court rejected his renunciation application and asked him to attend further counselling sessions.
The young man then went to the civil court to challenge the Sharia court’s ruling. He argued in the civil court that he should be granted the right to return to and practice his original religion of Christianity.
Sharia court has more power than the civil court
Civil Court Judge Justice Wan Ahmed Farid Van Saleh, however, cited a judgment passed by it earlier this year and observed that civil courts do not have the power to review decisions made by Sharia courts.
Justice Van Saleh further said that I am bound by the court’s decision. The decision of the Sharia court cannot be reviewed.
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