Syariah law on non muslim?

There was a newspaper report on the proposal allegedly made by IKIM during one of its recent convention to have the non muslim couple caught for khalwat punished under the civil law. I felt called to write on this issue (actually I have commented on this issue in Marina Mahathir’s blog). However, before I could do so, I learned that IKIM had made another statement that there has been no such proposal made by IKIM or passed during their recent convention.

To me, thing will not happen just like that. There must be initiator for it. Like Malay proverb says, “kalau tiada angin, masakan pokok bergoyang”. So, who raised the issue? Well, it remains anonymous when IKIM said that “No such proposal was made, and therefore if what is reported in the Star as being comments allegedly made by Syariah Court of Appeal Judge (Mohd Asri Abdullah), are also in error”.

To me the issue of applying Syariah law in the Malaysian context towards the non muslim should not arise at the first place. As much as non muslim spouse has no legal recourse in the Syariah Court, there should not be any attempt to implicate the non muslim couple caught in khalwat case under any law, be it syariah or civil law. We can’t have double standard in treating the non muslim i.e. they are bound by the Islamic law in certain aspects and are not bound on other aspects.

Syariah law in Malaysian context is personal in nature, which means it is only applicable to muslim. So, it is not a right thing to do to impose khalwat charge to non muslim couple when they do not commit any offence at the first place be it under the syariah law or civil law. In that context, I urge the Islamic authority to leave the non muslim alone and be more sensitive towards other religion. As much as we do not other people to meddle into our own internal religious affairs, we should do the same to others.