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Syariah court: Christian daughter of convert not Muslim
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A Malaysian Muslim woman walks past Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's poster on Dec. 8, 2015. (AP/Joshua Paul)
A 40-year-old Christian woman, whose father converted to Islam, is not a Muslim, the Syariah Court here declared.
Syariah High Court judge Nawawi Diman ruled that Ervinna Chua Soo Kea @ Ervinna Abdullah was not Muslim as she did not fall within the meaning of “Orang Islam” under the state Sabah Islamic Council Enactment 2004.
Her counsel Hamid Ismail said on Wednesday that the judge ruled that Chua had grown up in a Christian family and never practised the Muslim way of life, even though her father at a later stage became a Muslim.
He said the judge had allowed the application because Chua had followed her mother’s religion and there was no evidence that her father had raised her as a Muslim.
Her father divorced her mother after converting to Islam.
“The judge found that Chua had never practiced a Muslim lifestyle,” said Hamid.
Ervinna had filed an application to declare her “not a Muslim” five years ago after National Registration Department (NRD) ordered her to clarify her status as her father was a Muslim.
Chua, now 40, was born to Christian parents but her father converted to Islam in March 1977 when she was only nine months old. She and her mother did not convert.
Hamid said Chua’s parents divorced when she was five years old and she continued to live with her mother and grandmother, who were non-Muslims. Chua also married a Christian man.
However, Hamid said that when Chua lost her identity card in 2008, the NRD asked her to clarify her religious status with the Sabah Islamic Religious Affairs Department as her father was a Muslim.
In the initial check, Hamid said Chua was issued a temporary identity card with the department confirming that she was not listed as Muslim.
Hamid said Chua then filed an application in the Syariah High Court in 2008 seeking a declaration that she was a non-Muslim but it was dismissed on Aug 12 and the Syariah High Court declared that she was a Muslim based on her father’s religion.
At a fresh trial that started on March 29 this year, her father also testified that Chua did not convert to Islam.
