Malaymailonline: KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Followers of the outlawed Ahmadiyya sect are challenging a crackdown on their activities nearly a year ago, on the grounds that they do not fall under the jurisdiction of Islamic law since they have been declared apostates by religious authorities in Selangor.
On August 14 last year, a group 39 Ahmadiyya followers were granted leave by High Court Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusuf to pursue a judicial review application of their arrests by the Selangor Islamic Department (JAIS) in a raid at a shoplot in Dolomite Park in Batu Caves, four months earlier on April 11.
The group, however, will have to wait until the court hears and decides on a September 10 application by the Selangor Islamic Council (MAIS) — which oversees JAIS’s operations — to strike out the judicial review application.
Jane Tai, counsel for the Ahmadiyya group, said they are seeking a court declaration that religious authorities have no jurisdiction over the group since they are not recognised as Muslims according to several fatwa issued earlier.
On June 22, 1998, the Selangor Fatwa Committee ruled that followers of Ahmadiyya or Qadiani teachings are “kafir” or non-believers, and that any individual that follows Qadiani teachings is an apostate, according to the national e-fatwa database.
Categories: Ahmadis And Pakistan, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia