In a landmark ruling, a Shariah court on Thursday allowed a Muslim convert to return to her original faith of Buddhism. The Penang Shariah court, which governs the personal and religious conduct of Muslims, allowed Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's petition to be declared a non-Muslim after her marriage to an Iranian failed.
Siti, an ethnic Chinese going by the name of Tan Ean Yuang, had filed the application in May last year. She embraced Islam in 1998 as she wanted to marry an Iranian named Ferdoun Ashanian, but claimed that she never practised the religion. Siti will now have to get the Government registration department to have her name and religion changed back on her identification papers.
The court said Siti's husband and Islamic authorities had failed to give her proper religious advice. "So you can't blame her for her ignorance of the teachings and wanting to convert out," said Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz, a lawyer for the Islamic Affairs Council in Penang. |