THE Perlis mufti has thrown his support behind the Court of Appeal’s ruling to allow children born out of wedlock to carry their father’s name, amid mixed views on the implications of the decision.

Utusan Malaysia reported Perlis Mufti Asri Zainul Abidin as saying that the decision was in line with the state’s fatwa (edict) gazetted on January 17, 2013, which allowed these children to be “bin” or “binti” to their biological father. 

“The provision of subsection 48 (6) of the Administration of the Religion Of Islam Enactment 2006, Perlis Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIPs) has approved the fatwa that a child, born less than six months after the mother’s marriage can be ‘bin’ to the mother’s husband, unless the father denies (that the child is his),” he was quoted as saying at a press conference in Kangar yesterday. 

He added that the matter was not under the Malaysian Islamic Development Department’s (Jakim) jurisdiction but under the respective state’s jurisdiction. 

The National Registration Department (NRD) yesterday said it would register the births of children born out of wedlock as usual, pending an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Director-general of NRD Mohd Yazid Ramli said any change would only be made after the Federal Court ruled on the appeal filed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli, who wrote the unanimous decision of a three-man panel, said on Thursday that the jurisdiction of the director-general of NRD was a civil one, bounding the latter to civil law.

This means NRD is to refer to Section 13A(2) of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (BDRA) when making decisions related to a child’s surname.

The ruling, which covers both Muslim and non-Muslim children conceived out of wedlock, was made in an appeal involving a seven-year-old child born five months and 24 days (or five months and 27 days according to the Islamic Qamariah calendar) after his parents married.

The child was registered with NRD two years after birth and the parents jointly applied to have “MEMK” named as the father, but the department registered the child as “bin Abdullah” instead. – July 29, 2017.