Well, this is a matter of freedom of religion amongst Muslims...
The two main juristic schools of jurisprudence in Islam are the sunni school and the shia school. The sunni school has four main divisions called madhabs. They are Hanafi, Shafi, Hanbali and Maliki. It is said that about eighty percent of the total Muslim population of the world are sunni Muslims and the majority of them are Hanafis followed by Shafis. Iman Shafi founded the Shafi school and was well known for his progressive and modern views. Vast majority of the Muslims in Malaysia are Shafis.
While the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, except with respect to the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Islamic law and personal and family law of persons professing the religion of Islam is within the powers of the State.
The Selangor Syariah Crimes Enactment 1995, is a Selangor law - enacted through the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, and like any other State law, it can also be similarly amended and/or repealed by the State Legislative Assembly, and being an Enactment, all that is required is simple majority. [Similarly, the law that restricts persons other than Muslims using certain words like 'Allah', etc is a State Enactment]. Eventhough the Pakatan Rakyat has majority in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly, and their public position is clearly contrary to the existing Enactments, they have chosen not to take steps to amend the said laws. Why? Fear that this may affect their support amongst some voters....This is a weakness in Pakatan Rakyat - they just have no guts to 'rock the boat' and bring about changes - a similar behavior was seen on the issue of Local Council elections, and also the practice of possibly still using the 'OSA' to keep documents secret and not using the powers now available under the Official Secrets Act(OSA) to declassify documents previously marked 'secret'.
Section 12 (c) of the Selangor Syariah Crimes Enactment 1995 for allegedly committing contempt against the religious authorities.
Section 12 (c) pertains to acting “in a way yang menghina kuasa yang sah (that is in contempt of the rightful authorities), or defies, violates or questions an order or directive of ... the mufti stated or issued through a fatwa.”
A Selangor fatwa proscribes being involved in, learning or propagating Shitte teachings.
Those found guilty of an offense for which they have been charged can be fined up to RM3,000, jailed up to two years, or both.
What is the Pakatan Rakyat position on this issue? Many Malaysians may just be interested in just not addressing issue - this 'sensitive' issue....this internal Muslim issue - but then is this also not an issue about freedom of religion.
What about Shiites who come to Malaysia to work...and visit? What Muslims from the other schools of Islam? Are Sunnis similarly persecuted in countries where the majority are Shia?A sensitive issue it may be, but it is something that needs to be addressed. Maybe, all those who are not Sunni Shafiis should not be coming under the jurisdiction of the State and its religious authorities...
This really is not a problem unique to Islam. Christians too had these problems when deviants were once caught and burnt at the stake...
As many as 77 of the 128 Shiite followers who have been detained by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) have had their statements recorded over suspicions of being involved with the banned mazhab (school of thought).
According to a Jais insider, those detained had started giving their statements since being detained last week and will continue to do so until Thursday when the process of recording their statement ends.
They are being investigated under Section 12 (c) of the Selangor Syariah Crimes Enactment 1995 for allegedly committing contempt against the religious authorities.
Section 12 (c) pertains to acting “in a way yang menghina kuasa yang sah (that is in contempt of the rightful authorities), or defies, violates or questions an order or directive of ... the mufti stated or issued through a fatwa.”
A Selangor fatwa proscribes being involved in, learning or propogating Shiite teachings.
Those found guilty of an offence for which they have been charged can be fined up to RM3,000, jailed up to two years, or both. - Malaysiakini, 21/12/2010, 128 'Shiites' arrested, 77 under questioning
Public and private institutions of higher learning are urged to take stern action against lecturers and students involved in Syiah teachings.
Higher Education Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin, in making the call, said Syiah teachings contradicted with the teachings of Islam in this country.
"I want the university administration to concentrate on lecturers as they are capable of influencing others, particularly students, in order to prevent the teachings from spreading," he told reporters after presenting aid to students from low-income families at Taman Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru today.
He said this when asked to comment on the detention of 200 Syiah followers in Selangor, who included lecturers and students of institutions of higher learning, on Thursday by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais).
The detention was made following a raid on a fourth floor unit of a shop house at Taman Sri Gombak, Batu Caves.
- Bernama - Malaysiakini, 18/12/2010, Campus crackdown against Syiah teaching
What happens if a non-Muslim, presently, say, a Christian or a Hindu or Buddhist, wishes to convert to the Shia version of Islam. Or maybe Sufi or Ahmadiya. Then what? After all a non-Muslim, under freedom of religion can give up his faith and become an atheist and he will be o.k. Or he could give up his religion and start his own and he can have the cherry tree in front of his house as his god! The constitution basically allows this. Does the constitution, therefore, also allow Shai, Sufi or Ahmadia?
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