THE Shariah High Court has no jurisdiction to review fatwa issued by state religious authorities, the Federal Court decided today, declaring a Selangor enactment unlawful.

Lawyer New Sin Yew tweeted the apex court’s decision, reporting that it was a unanimous, 9-0 ruling by the bench over section 66A of the Administration of the Religion of Islam (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003.

This section, which confers judicial review powers to the Shariah High Court, is unconstitutional, the Federal Court had ruled.

The section, enacted by the Selangor legislature to empower the shariah courts to review fatwas, also meant that the legislature had exceeded its powers.

The decision today was in the case of Muslim women’s rights group Sisters in Islam’s (SIS) application to strike down section 66A. 

SIS filed the application to the Federal Court in January 2021 on grounds that the Selangor legislative assembly had no powers to enact section 66A, as such powers to give judicial review to the shariah courts is not in Item 1 of the State List in the Federal Constitution.

During hearing, SIS’ lawyers had argued that the shariah court only had powers to deal with religious issues involving Muslim individuals, and not institutions such as fatwa councils.

The state legislative assembly, too, can only enact Islamic laws for Muslims and not institutions.

SIS’ filing to the Federal Court stemmed from its classification as a deviant body as declared by the Selangor religious authorities in a fatwa.

The organisation challenged the fatwa but was dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court in 2019, with the judge deciding that the matter lay with the Selangor shariah court based on section 66A.

SIS then filed to the Federal Court to nullify section 66A. The Selangor government and Selangor Islamic Religious Council were named as respondents.

Separately, SIS is appealing the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s 2019 decision at the Court of Appeal, the outcome of which is pending disposal of its Federal Court bid to nullify section 66A.

New on Twitter said SIS was represented at the Federal Court today by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, Fahri Azzat and Surendra Ananth.

The court’s decision is drawing questions on Twitter, with people asking lawyers to explain the verdict in layman’s terms.

Responding to this, lawyer Siti Kasim said: “It means state authorities have no power to simply make their own laws!” – February 21, 2022.