He says the ruling makes sense as members of the sect are not considered Muslims in the first place.
Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor.
GEORGE TOWN: The mufti of Penang has welcomed the High Court’s ruling yesterday allowing the followers of the Ahmadiah sect, labelled as deviant by Islamic authorities in Malaysia, to freely practise their faith amid actions against them by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).
Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor said the ruling was in the spirit of religious freedom as guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, adding that the Ahmadiah sect was never recognised as part of Islam.
He said the court’s ruling was also in the spirit of a decision by the National Islamic Affairs Council in 1984, branding Ahmadi followers as non-Muslims.
Wan Salim said as such, members of the Ahmadiah sect can be regarded as part of religion other than Islam.
“This means they cannot be accorded rights as a Muslim and their deceased may not be given an Islamic burial,” he told FMT.
In a landmark ruling by the Shah Alam High Court yesterday, judge Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera said Jais had no right to stop religious activities of the Ahmadi community in Selangor.
Thirty-nine members of the sect had challenged the department for trying to charge them with shariah offences, on the basis that Islamic authorities in Selangor do not recognise Ahmadi followers as Muslims.
The judge said a fatwa gazetted by the state in 2001 showed that the group was considered apostates, and as such Jais would have no jurisdiction over them.
Most Muslims regard the Ahmadiah sect, which is based on the teachings of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India (d. 1908), as deviant, citing Ahmadiah followers’ belief that Mirza Ahmad is the promised Messiah.
Mainstream Muslims believe the Messiah to be Jesus the son of Mary.
The Ahmadi community claims to have tens of millions of followers throughout the world. It currently has its headquarters in Britain.
There is also a strong presence of the Ahmadi community in Penang.
Wan Salim said among beliefs of the sect is that Mirza Ahmad was a prophet who received revelations from God
He said the Penang Fatwa Committee also does not regard Ahmadiah followers as Muslims.
But he said while religious authorities cannot prevent members of the sect to practise their faith, they could be prosecuted for preaching their faith to other Muslims.
“Non-Muslims cannot be punished with the murtad (apostasy) offence,” he said
source:
Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor.
Categories: Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Islam, Malaysia
Should we smile or cry? half of the reaction is that hopefully the Muslim authorities of Malaysia will stop bothering our Ahmadi brothers and sisters, but the other half is sad that they still consider us ‘not Muslim’. Allah is the judge !!!
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Balwant Singh Sidhu
Syem, article 11 says that one is free to profess a religion of his choice. The Oxford English Dictionary says that ‘profess’ means to affirm or publicly declare….so if you want to know what religion a person professes, ask him.
Syem
‘RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AS GUARANTEED IN THE CONSTITUTION’… hmmmm….can anywan with Legal knowledge of this help further explain in detail exactly what Religious Freedom as stated in yhe Constitution mean?… Freedom as in what?
Siti Yunus
Please open the floodgate,so that malays can choose whatever religions they want to,or just be an Atheist.
Anthony Charles Louis
They not geng kami. Dah mati jangan minta tanam kat kubor kami. Biar cacing lain makan mayat dia.My good hearted wishes.Salam bro.
Rahmat Rashid
Maybe the Ahmadi’s should be prosecuted under a different provision of the Federal constitution or the shariah laws.
Anthony Charles Louis
You mean more like persecute izzinit? Why all this hate from your team??Read lah ,go and read.Baca, Baca lagi skali baru buat komen,betul ,salah lain crita. Salam .Jangan tenzion
Abdo Mohamad AlMuradi
May Allah guide this mufti to the right path, ameen.
Ramli Mohamad
Similarly, may Allah guide you to the right path, ameen.
Abdo Mohamad AlMuradi
Ramli Mohamad And you too.
Steven Ong
Abdo Mohamad AlMuradi
Sorry to both of you . Allah cannot guide both of you and also all ogf them . Why I say this ? The fact is out there . What does this issue happened and in the news ? Its because there was no proper guidance from above . True or false?
Show 4 more replies in this thread
John Tan
“Let Penang Lead”. Live long and prosper.
Stanley Teoh
Let’s have REAL religious freedom as enshrined in our constitution.
Everyone should be allow to practice their beliefs/religions FREELY.
No one should dictate to anyone what is religiously right or religiously wrong. To each his own .
Those so-called religious authorities should limit their scope of responsibilities to just guidance, counselling, explaining, enlightening to their religion followers.
No one should be punished, ostracised, removed, jailed, banned just because they have a different opinion in their own belief.
No one should be labelled an apostate, traitor or punished if they want to leave a religion for another … FOR NO RELIGION TEACHES ANYONE TO BE BAD BUT TO BE GOOD AT ALL TIMES. … IT IS ALREADY GOOD IF THEY ADOPT A RELIGION … NOT NECESSARILLY ANY PARTICULAR RELIGION …. TAKE A LOOK AT MOST OF THE FOLLOWERS OF THE PREVIOUS GOVT. AREN’T THEY ALL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ? LOOK AT WHAT THEY HAVE BECOME ! … CORRUPTED … LIARS, CHEATS, MURDERER, .. and more …
Har Nam
Come on ….not only the previous govt…..the new govt tooo. You think you never cheat, lied? Puiiih…..
Man Lee
Wan Salim does not appear to be like some of his Wahhabi-infected fellow State Muftis. Freedom of Religion, or No Religion is allowed by the Federal Constitution. Take note, the Mufti of Perlis, and the camel rider of Perak!!
Norman Fernandez
Every religious group is entitled to their place of burial. Hopefully, the Ahmadiyah’s can have their own place for burials. Maybe Penang can lead the way.