KES rampas mayat oleh jabatan agama telahpun mencapai tahap yang baru. Sekarang, ada pula kes di mana jabatan agama Islam telah merampas abu mayat seorang wanita yang didakwa telah memeluk Islam. Dalam kes-kes seperti ini, siapakah yang lebih berhak terhadap mayat orang yang telah meninggal? Dan apakah Islam itu tidak membenarkan si mati dikebumikan oleh ahli-ahli keluarga bukan Islam?

Corrected 11.35am on 25 Aug 2010 ON 20 Aug 2010, a three-person bench of the Court of Appeal unanimously denied the application of S Kaliammal, the widow of Mount Everest climber M Moorthy, to determine her late husband’s religious status. Moorthy passed away on 20 Dec 2005 after entering into a coma. Just before his [...]

THE late Malcolm X did it, and he’s a hero. Amina Wadud did it, and people call her a freak. “It” being converting to Islam. And as African Americans, Malcolm and Amina did it in the belief that Islam offered them spiritual liberation and justice. People convert to different religions all the time. Who can [...]

PETALING JAYA, 8 July 2009: There is no avenue for a deceased Muslim convert’s next-of-kin to lay claim to his or her estate, as civil laws like the Distribution Act 1958 do not apply to the Muslim deceased, lawyers said. Instead, the estate goes to the Muslim treasury, Baitulmal, which is meant to distribute the [...]

Updated 4.45pm on 6 July 2009 SHAH ALAM, 6 July 2009: The High Court here gave jurisdiction to the Syariah Court to determine if art director Mohan Singh a/l Janto Singh was a Muslim at death, despite his Sikh family’s dispute of his conversion. Judge Rosnaini Saub said the civil court had no jurisdiction to [...]

SHAH ALAM, 1 July 2009: The High Court will decide which court has jurisdiction to hear competing claims over the body of Mohan Singh al/l Janot Singh on Monday, 6 July 2009. High Court judge Rosnaini Saub announced this today after the final round of arguments on the matter was made in court today. Both [...]