Speaking to FMT, Jihad for Justice Chairman Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim said all “good Muslims” should protest against rulings made in the child custody cases of S Deepa and Indira Gandhi because Islam required them to stand against injustice.
He quoted a hadith in which the Prophet is reported to have warned Muslims that on the Day of Judgement he would stand before God as advocate for all non-Muslims who had been victims of their mistreatment and injustice.
“This means that if an Islamic administration has been found to mistreat or impart injustice on a non-Muslim, the wakil – the representative of justice for them on the Day of Judgement – will be the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,” he said.
“If the Prophet himself is going to come forward as a wakil for the non-Muslims, what are Muslims living in this world now going to do when they see injustice right in front of their eyes and at their doorsteps?”
Thasleem said the judges in the Deepa case had set a “worrying precedent” for coming to their decision after spending such a short time talking to her children.
He said the decision might encourage a converted Muslim to “hide behind a Syariah Court order” in order to take custody of his children.
“I think the floodgates have been opened through this judgement,” he said. “It has to be stopped.”
Referring to the Indira Gandhi case, Thasleem said her former husband’s conversion of their three children to Islam was null and void under Section 96 and 106 of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Perak) Enactment 2004.
“I am very clear on the point that the custodial order is haram,” he said. “The conversion process was not followed and adhered to. I want JAIP (Perak Religious Department) to contest my claim and say it is not haram.”
He showed a copy of a letter he wrote to JAIP, in which he asked the department’s director, Mohd Yusop Haji Husin, whether the certificate of conversion given by the registrar of Muslim converts was in line with the enactment.
Section 96 requires the children to personally request to embrace Islam, and Section 106 stipulates that if the children are underage, their request requires the agreement of their guardian.
He said Indira’s former husband, Muhammad Riduan Abdullah, had custody rights only through the Syariah Court’s order of October 29, 2009.
“The mother did not agree and the children were not mature enough to understand the shahada (declaration of faith), which wasn’t even recited,” Thasleem said in his letter.
He said JAIP had yet to respond to his requests for clarification. “Maybe, once I’ve written a hundred letters, then they’ll reply,” he added.