According to Bernama, the nine-member bench led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat heard a petition involving offences contained in the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code (I) Enactment 2019.
The impugned offences include making false claims, destroying or defiling places of worship, sexual intercourse with a corpse, sodomy, giving false evidence, consuming alcohol and gambling.
The challenge was brought by lawyer Nik Elin Zurina Abdul Rashid and her daughter, Tengku Yasmin Nastasha Tengku Abdul Rahman.
The Kelantan government was named as respondent in their petition.
The duo’s lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar submitted that the Kelantan state legislature did not have the power to legislate the offences as they were already covered under federal law.
“The power of the legislature of the state of Kelantan to enact offences against the precepts of Islam is limited to only the ‘private aspect’ of the religion,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.
Earlier, Tengku Maimun said the bench agreed with Malik that the case was premised only on an interpretation of the Federal Constitution and did not touch on Islamic precepts.
“There is no intention on the part of the petitioners (Nik Elin and Nastasha) or the court to undermine the position of the Islamic religion,” she said.
Lawyer Kamaruzaman Arif, who represented the Kelantan government, said the state’s shariah code complied with the constitution and was legally enforceable.
He called on the court to revisit and overrule its 2021 decision in the case of Iki Putra Mubarrak which he said had been wrongly decided.
Meanwhile, lawyer Yusfarizal Yusoff, holding a watching brief for the Terengganu Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council, said the petition was premature as Nik Elin and Tengku Yasmin Nastasha were not aggrieved parties and, therefore, did not have locus standi to bring their challenge.
Other judges on the panel were Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, Chief Judge of Malaya Zabidin Diah, Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Abdul Rahman Sebli as well as Justices Nallini Pathmanathan, Mary Lim, Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal, Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais.
Sisters in Islam as well as the religious councils of Kelantan and the federal territory were granted permission to participate in the proceedings as amicus curiae (friends of the court).
Lawyers representing the Malaysian Bar, the Malaysia Syarie Lawyers Association, the Muslim Lawyers Association, the Federal Territory Syarie Lawyers Association and the religious councils of Perlis, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Sabah held watching briefs.
Earlier, the court dismissed an application by the Kelantan religious department to intervene in the case.
Nik Elin and her daughter were granted leave to pursue the application on Sept 30 last year.
The case has been adjourned to a date to be fixed later.