Wan Salim told FMT man-made laws were not perfect as humans are imperfect.

“So it is not peculiar if laws are often reviewed from time to time to improve them so that they fulfil their purpose, to uphold justice and benefit the vast society,” he said in an interview.

He said such reviews would include amendments to Islamic family laws “so that it is fairer for women, if current laws do not ensure their rights concerning divorce, polygamy, nafkah, hadanah and other matters.”

Wan Salim said he disagreed with the stance of “ulamas” who objected to changes in the laws affecting discrimination against women.

He said those religious leaders who attended meetings of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) did not present the true views of Islam.

“Anyone who studies the teachings of Islam from original sources can easily summarise that Islam gives the same rights to women as to men, except for a few issues, because of unavoidable factors,” he said.

A women’s rights activist said recently that Malaysia’s Islamic family laws had suffered two rounds of regression following amendments to the law in 1994 and 2003.

Zainah Anwar, executive director of international rights group Musawah, said the law reforms took away many progressive reforms and that Malaysia’s Islamic family laws had since gone from being among the best in the Muslim world to one of the worst.

She also spoke of attending Cedaw meetings where leaders of Muslim nations said laws could not be reformed to recognise equality because that would be against Islam.

Wan Salim said “it’s possible that they comprised of religious figures who were ignorant or shallow in their knowledge of Islam’s teachings”.

However, the endeavour for women’s rights should not be influenced by Western culture as its traditions were “damaging” to women.

“It must be admitted that Eastern traditions are often regressive for women, while Western traditions damage women. We don’t want women to regress nor do we want them to be damaged.

“What we’re discussing here is the law of the shariah courts which should be the instrument to execute God’s laws for the sake of upholding justice for all, men and women.

“Islamic law is not Eastern or Western, but it is based on revelation from God who is all-knowing and all-wise,” he said.