Converts to Islam should go public: Malaysian Muslim clergy

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s Muslim religious leaders Wednesday supported the government’s proposal to get converts to Islam to publicly announce their religious status, saying this would avoid future family disputes.

They said the move, which would require converts to update their religious status in an automatic system, was necessary as Islam required them to declare their new religious status openly upon conversion.

“They (converts) should inform everyone, especially their family members, that they have embraced the religion,” said Perak state’s mufti Harussani Zakaria.

Harussani, however, proposed that the system should also be extended to cases of apostasy or those who renounced Islam.

“If we have a system where we can check those who embrace Islam, we should also have the same system to identify those who are murtad (an apostate).”

He also said Muslim converts who did not want to declare their conversion for fear of harm or that their lives might be at risk should seek police help.

Jamil Khir Baharom, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, last month said that the government was in the process of reviewing the regulations pertaining to the registration of Muslim converts so that there would be no legal or religious repercussions over the status of converts.

Under the proposal being looked into, upon conversion, the Islamic Development Department Malaysia (Jakim) and the National Registration Department (NRD) would automatically document the particulars of the person so that the information would be made available to interested parties.

This is seen as the government’s alternative solution to avoid disputes over the status of Muslim converts upon their death, New Straits Times said.

“There are some cases of families being misinformed of their family member’s conversion. This makes it hard for us to handle their funeral and deal with the confused family at the same time,” a Muslim official told the newspaper.