MALAYSIA Muslim bride at Hindu wedding should change religious status, says Jais KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 ― The Muslim bride at a Hindu wedding that was stopped by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) recently should apply to formally change her status if it were true that she had never practised the religion, the state authority said. Jais deputy Director Ahmad Zaki Arshad was quoted as saying in Harian Metro that it was best that the bride, Zarena Abdul Majid, appoint a lawyer and submit an application to change her name and religion, while they investigate the case of her unilateral conversion by her absent father. Ahmad Zaki noted that contrary to earlier news reports, the case is not being investigated for apostasy. “What has happened is that the woman and her siblings use Muslim names, but have never practised or were exposed to Islamic teachings as they should have,” he told the Malay daily. Ahmad Zaki, however, said that Jais has categorised the case under Section 10 of the Syariah Criminal Enactment (Selangor) 1995, for insulting or bringing disrepute to Islam. Zarena, who was briefly detained by religious authorities two days ago, said in the news report that her father had secretly converted her and her siblings to Islam when they were children. The 32-year-old claimed that he abandoned them after he divorced her Hindu mother more than 20 years ago. It was earlier reported that Zarena was brought in for questioning by Jais after the religious authorities stopped her Hindu wedding ceremony at a temple in Shah Alam on Sunday. Zarena had claimed then that her father had converted to Islam without informing the family and changed his name from Mahendran to Abdul Majid. He then registered Zarena and her brother as Muslims and kept their documents even after the divorce, she added.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:49:53 +0000