Sharia Lawyers Say Extend Cuddle Ban To Non-Muslims

Islamic lawyers meeting in Malaysia want an existing ban on unwed Muslim couples from cuddling or holding hands to be extended to non-Muslims caught flirting with the faithful, a local newspaper said on Thursday.

Experts in sharia law, which currently applies only to Malaysia's majority Muslims, proposed at a seminar that there should be a civil law to deal with non-Muslims found committing the Islamic crime of khalwat, or close proximity, with a Muslim.

"The Muslims can be sentenced in sharia courts and the non-Muslim partners can probably be sentenced in the civil courts, to be fair to both parties," a senior Malaysian sharia-court judge told the Star newspaper.

Mohd Asri Abdullah, a sharia appeal-court judge, was quoted as saying the proposal would be forwarded to the Malaysia's chief lawyer, the attorney-general, for government consideration.

The seminar also proposed penalties be increased for Muslims found guilty of khalwat, prostitution, gambling and consuming alcohol, to a maximum fine of 1,000 ringgit ($314) or five years' jail or 12 strokes of a cane for lower-court offences.

Malaysia runs parallel sharia and civil legal systems, with sharia courts dealing only with Muslims and mainly in family disputes or in matters such as khalwat or apostacy.

It employs religious police to ensure Muslim compliance with Koranic laws. They sometimes patrol parks looking for young unwed couples holding hands, raid nightclubs to catch Muslims drinking alcohol and ensure Muslims observe the fasting month of Ramadan.

Some Muslims feel it is not fair to be punished for moral crimes that non-Muslims can freely commit. But non-Muslims, who make up around 40 percent of Malaysia's population of 26 million, strongly resist attempts to impose standards of Muslim morality on them, even if these attempts are sometimes mistaken.

In 2006, Islamic officials mistakenly raided the apartment of a married American couple, both Christians, on suspicion of khalwat. The government later apologised to the duo.

***** The learned gentlemen of the syariah should have come out with this statement a month ago and BN would have lost at least another half-a-dozen seats. Too bad.

While it is laudable that the syariah experts want to be 'fair to the Muslims' it is rather unreasonable on their part to wish to extend the provisions via the civil courts to those who do not profess or believe in their faith. Any attempt to steamroll legislation on this point would be political suicide for the government, be it Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat.

In any case would it not be better, if they genuinely believe in being fair to the Muslims, to lower fines and other harsh punishment and try the more tolerable and tested method of counseling the offending members of the faith? To legislate the social and moral behaviour of hot-blooded young men and women has met with little or no success in other countries and it is doubtful that Malaysia could be the miraculous exception.

It would be more useful if the learned syariah exponents employ their considerable knowledge and talent in tackling the deadly scourge of dadah among Malay/Muslims which has been a curse and has taken a great toll on Muslim families and the country. The whole nation would be grateful to them.
From The Star: ‘Punishing non-Muslims for khalwat against Constitution’