Demarginalizing the Sharia: Muslim Activists and Legal Reforms in Malaysia

Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, null

doi:10.13169/reorient.1.2.0127

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Demarginalizing the Sharia: Muslim Activists and Legal Reforms in Malaysia

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Author(s): Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied

Publication date (Print): Spring 2016

Journal: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: Sharia, Muslim activists, Malaysia, tactical repertoires, demarginalization

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Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): reorient

Title: ReOrient

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Print): 20555601

ISSN (Electronic): 2055561X

Publication date (Print): Spring 2016

Volume: 1

Issue: 2

Pages: 127-146

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Publisher ID: reorient.1.2.0127

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.1.2.0127

SO-VID: 34654f4c-0612-4a66-b9c7-3b6cd6417caa

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History

References

ABIM says Malaysia is an Islamic State in practice (2007) 23 July. Available at: http://www.mca.org.my/en/abim-says-malaysia-is-an-islamic-state-in-practice%C2%A0/ (accessed 14 March 2016).
Alagappa, M. (2004) Civil society and political change: An analytical framework. In Alagappa M. (ed.) Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 25–57.
Aliran Monthly (2005) The Moorthy Maniam case: Compassion and justice missing. Aliran Monthly . 25 (11–12), 2–6.
Attorney-General's Chambers of Malaysia (n.d.) Available at: http://www.agc.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=94%3ASharia-community-&layout=blog&Itemid=44&lang=en (accessed 26 February 2016).
Baxtrom, R. (2008) Houses in Motion: The Experience of Place and the Problem of Belief in Urban Malaysia . Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Benford, R. D. and Hunt, S. A. (1992) Dramaturgy and social movements: The social construction and communication of power. Sociological Inquiry . 62 (1), 36–55.
Brown, N. (1997) The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Casanova, J. (1984) Public Religions in the Modern World . Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Case, W. (2002) Politics in Southeast Asia: Democracy or Less . New York: Curzon Press.
Chevallier-Govers, C. (2010) Shari'ah and Legal Pluralism in Malaysia . Monograph Series No. 2. Kuala Lumpur: IAIS (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies) Malaysia.
Crouch, H. (1996) Government and Society in Malaysia . Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Esposito, J. L. and Mogahed, D. (2007) Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think . New York: Gallup Press.
Fraser, N. (1992) Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In Calhoun, C. (ed.) Habermas and the Public Sphere . Cambridge: MIT Press, 109–42.
Ghee, L. T. (1995) Nongovernmental organizations in Malaysia and regional networking. In Yamamoto, T. (ed.) Emerging Civil Society in the Asia Pacific Community . Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 165–82.
Gomez, E. T. and Jomo, K. S. (1999) Malaysia's Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hallaq, W. B. (2013) The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity's Moral Predicament . New York: Columbia University Press.
Hamayotsu, K. (2003) Politics of Sharia reform: The making of the state religio-legal apparatus. In Hooker, V. and Othman, N. (eds.) Malaysia: Islam, Society and Politics . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 55–79.
Hamid, A. F. A. (2008) Islamist realignment and the rebranding of the Muslim youth movement of Malaysia. Contemporary Southeast Asia . 30 (2), 215–40.
Harding, A. (2010) Sharia and national law in Indonesia. In Otto, J. M. (ed.) Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present . Leiden: Leiden University Press, 491–528.
Harding, A. (2013) The Constitution of Malaysia: A Contextual Analysis . Oxford: Hart Publishing, 225–43.
Hassan, M. K. (1987) The response of Muslim youth organizations to political change: HMI in Indonesia and ABIM in Malaysia. In Roff, W. (ed.) Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning: Comparative Studies of Muslim Discourse . London, Croom Helm, 99–113.
Hassan, S. (2003) Islamic non-governmental organisations. In Weiss, M. L. and Hassan, S. (eds.) Social Movements in Malaysia . London: Routledge, 97–114.
Hefner, R. W. (1997) Islam in the era of nation-states: Politics and religious renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia. In Hefner, R. W. and Horvatich, P. (eds.) Islam in the Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia . Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 3–47.
Hefner, R. W. (2011) Shari'a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World . Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Hooker, M. B. (1993) Fatawa in Malaysia, 1960–1985. Arab Law Quarterly . 8 (2), 93–105.
Ibrahim, A. M. (2000) The Administration of Islamic Law in Malaysia . Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Islamic Understanding.
IUM. Available at: http://www.iium.edu.my/aikol (accessed 14 March 2016).
Jaafar, K. (1984) ABIM Masih Mencari Arah. Dewan Masyarakat , February, 30–31.
Johnston, H. (2011) States and Social Movements . Cambridge: Polity Press.
Kamali, M. H. (2000) Islamic Law in Malaysia: Issues and Developments . Kuala Lumpur: Ilmiah Publisher.
Kheng, C. B. (2003) Malaysia: The Making of a Nation . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Press.
Lee, J. C. H. (2010) Islamization and Activism in Malaysia . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Press.
Li-ann, T. (2006) Apostasy and religious freedom: Constitutional issues arising from the Lina Joy litigation. Malayan Law Journal . 2, i–xxii.
Liow, J. C. (2009) Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lombardi, C. B. (2006) State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt: The Incorporation of the Shari'a Into Egyptian Constitutional Law . Leiden: Brill.
Malaysiakini (2009) ABIM Lodges 11 Police Reports against JAG. Malaysiakini . 9 October. Available at: https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/114665 (accessed 14 March 2016).
Malaysian Bar Council (2013) New Powers for Syariah Court with Proposed Amendments. 27 June. Available at: http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/new_powers_for_Sharia_court_with_proposed_amendments.html (accessed 14 March 2016).
Mandal, S. K. (2003) Transethnic solidarities in a racialised context. Journal of Contemporary Asia . 33 (1), 50–68.
Mohamad, M. (2010) The ascendance of bureaucratic Islam and the secularization of the Sharia in Malaysia. Pacific Affairs . 83 (3), 505–24.
Mutalib, H. (1993) Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State? Singapore: Singapore University Press.
Muzaffar, C. (1987) Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia . Petaling Jaya: Fajar Bakti.
Nair, S. (1997) Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy . London: Routledge.
Noor, F. (2004) Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS: 1951–2003 . Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute.
Phar, K. B. (2009) Islamic Statehood and Maqasid Al-Shariah in Malaysia: A Zero-Sum Game? Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.
Rabasa, A. M. (2004) The Muslim World after 9/11 . Santa Monica: RAND.
Risalah (1983) Islamisasi selepas rombakan cabinet. Risalah 3: 12 & 15.
Risalah (1986) Undang-undang mengenai murtad adalah wajar. Risalah 1: 22.
Risalah (1988) Undang-Undang Islam Yang Terunggul. Risalah 9: 5.
Savaranmuttu, J. (2010) Malaysia: Multicultural society, Islamic state or what? In Siam-Heng, M. H. and Liew, T. C. (eds.) State and Secularism: Perspectives from Asia . Singapore: World Scientific, 279–300.
Saravanamuttu, J. (2010) Malaysia's Foreign Policy: The First Fifty Years: Alignment, Neutralism, Islamism . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Seda-Poulin, M. L. (1993) Islamization and legal reform in Malaysia: The Hudud controversy of 1992. Southeast Asian Affairs , 224–42.
Shamsul, A. B. (1995) Inventing certainties: The Dakwah persona in Malaysia. In James, W. (ed.) The Pursuit of Certainty: Religious and Cultural Transformations . London: Routledge, 111–32.
Spiegel, A. (2008) Negotiating women's rights in a translocal space: Women's organisations and networking in Malaysia. In Lachenmann, G. and Dannecker, P. (eds.) Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections . Lanham: Lexington Books, 247–60.
The Star (2013) Mufti: Amend articles in constitution to exclude Muslims. The Star . 28 July. Available at: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2013/07/28/mufti-amend-articles-in-constitution-to-exclude-muslims-exclude-islam-from-provision-on-childs-reli/ (accessed 14 March 2016).
The Sun Daily (2006) Poll shows 73% think we are Islamic state. The Sun Daily . 6 September. Available at: http://www.thesundaily.my/node/172867 (accessed 14 March 2016).
Taylor, V. and Van Dyke, N. (2007) “Get up, stand up”: Tactical repertoires of social movements. In Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A. and Kriesi, H. (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements . Oxford: Blackwell, 262–93.
Tilly, C. (1995) Contentious repertoires in Great Britain, 1758–1834. In Traugott, M. (ed.) Repertoires and Cycles of Collective Action . Durham: Duke University Press, 15–42.
Turner, B. S. and Nasir, K. M. (2013) The Sociology of Islam: Collected Essays of Bryan S. Turner . Burlington: Ashgate.
Urwah, A. (1989) Risalah Usrah , vols. 1–3. Kuala Lumpur: Pustaka Salam.
Van Dyke, N. and McCammon, H. J. (2010) Introduction: Social movement coalition formation. In Van Dyke, N. and McCammon, H. J. (eds.) Strategic Alliances: Coalition Building and Social Movements . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, xi–xxviii.
Verma, V. (2002) Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition . Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Whiting, A. (2010) Seculariam, the Islamic state and the Malaysian legal profession. Asian Journal of Comparative Law . 5 (1), 1–34.
Wiktorowicz, Q. (2004) Introduction. In Wiktorowicz, Q. (ed.) Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1–36.
Yang, G. (2005) Emotional events and the transformation of collective action: The Chinese student movement. In Flam, H. and King, D. (eds.) Emotions and Social Movements . London: Routledge, 79–98.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] ABIM says Malaysia is an Islamic State in practice (2007) 23 July. Available at: http://www.mca.org.my/en/abim-says-malaysia-is-an-islamic-state-in-practice%C2%A0/ (accessed 14 March 2016).

[2] Alagappa, M. (2004) Civil society and political change: An analytical framework. In Alagappa M. (ed.) Civil Society and Political Change in Asia: Expanding and Contracting Democratic Space . Stanford: Stanford University Press, 25–57.

[3] Aliran Monthly (2005) The Moorthy Maniam case: Compassion and justice missing. Aliran Monthly . 25 (11–12), 2–6.

[4] Attorney-General's Chambers of Malaysia (n.d.) Available at: http://www.agc.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=94%3ASharia-community-&layout=blog&Itemid=44&lang=en (accessed 26 February 2016).

[5] Baxtrom, R. (2008) Houses in Motion: The Experience of Place and the Problem of Belief in Urban Malaysia . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

[6] Benford, R. D. and Hunt, S. A. (1992) Dramaturgy and social movements: The social construction and communication of power. Sociological Inquiry . 62 (1), 36–55.

[7] Brown, N. (1997) The Rule of Law in the Arab World: Courts in Egypt and the Gulf . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[8] Casanova, J. (1984) Public Religions in the Modern World . Chicago: Chicago University Press.

[9] Case, W. (2002) Politics in Southeast Asia: Democracy or Less . New York: Curzon Press.

[10] Chevallier-Govers, C. (2010) Shari'ah and Legal Pluralism in Malaysia . Monograph Series No. 2. Kuala Lumpur: IAIS (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies) Malaysia.

[11] Crouch, H. (1996) Government and Society in Malaysia . Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

[12] Esposito, J. L. and Mogahed, D. (2007) Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think . New York: Gallup Press.

[13] Fraser, N. (1992) Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In Calhoun, C. (ed.) Habermas and the Public Sphere . Cambridge: MIT Press, 109–42.

[14] Ghee, L. T. (1995) Nongovernmental organizations in Malaysia and regional networking. In Yamamoto, T. (ed.) Emerging Civil Society in the Asia Pacific Community . Tokyo: Japan Center for International Exchange, 165–82.

[15] Gomez, E. T. and Jomo, K. S. (1999) Malaysia's Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[16] Hallaq, W. B. (2013) The Impossible State: Islam, Politics and Modernity's Moral Predicament . New York: Columbia University Press.

[17] Hamayotsu, K. (2003) Politics of Sharia reform: The making of the state religio-legal apparatus. In Hooker, V. and Othman, N. (eds.) Malaysia: Islam, Society and Politics . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 55–79.

[18] Hamid, A. F. A. (2008) Islamist realignment and the rebranding of the Muslim youth movement of Malaysia. Contemporary Southeast Asia . 30 (2), 215–40.

[19] Harding, A. (2010) Sharia and national law in Indonesia. In Otto, J. M. (ed.) Sharia Incorporated: A Comparative Overview of the Legal Systems of Twelve Muslim Countries in Past and Present . Leiden: Leiden University Press, 491–528.

[20] Harding, A. (2013) The Constitution of Malaysia: A Contextual Analysis . Oxford: Hart Publishing, 225–43.

[21] Hassan, M. K. (1987) The response of Muslim youth organizations to political change: HMI in Indonesia and ABIM in Malaysia. In Roff, W. (ed.) Islam and the Political Economy of Meaning: Comparative Studies of Muslim Discourse . London, Croom Helm, 99–113.

[22] Hassan, S. (2003) Islamic non-governmental organisations. In Weiss, M. L. and Hassan, S. (eds.) Social Movements in Malaysia . London: Routledge, 97–114.

[23] Hefner, R. W. (1997) Islam in the era of nation-states: Politics and religious renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia. In Hefner, R. W. and Horvatich, P. (eds.) Islam in the Era of Nation-States: Politics and Religious Renewal in Muslim Southeast Asia . Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 3–47.

[24] Hefner, R. W. (2011) Shari'a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World . Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

[25] Hooker, M. B. (1993) Fatawa in Malaysia, 1960–1985. Arab Law Quarterly . 8 (2), 93–105.

[26] Ibrahim, A. M. (2000) The Administration of Islamic Law in Malaysia . Kuala Lumpur: Institute of Islamic Understanding.

[27] IUM. Available at: http://www.iium.edu.my/aikol (accessed 14 March 2016).

[28] Jaafar, K. (1984) ABIM Masih Mencari Arah. Dewan Masyarakat , February, 30–31.

[29] Johnston, H. (2011) States and Social Movements . Cambridge: Polity Press.

[30] Kamali, M. H. (2000) Islamic Law in Malaysia: Issues and Developments . Kuala Lumpur: Ilmiah Publisher.

[31] Kheng, C. B. (2003) Malaysia: The Making of a Nation . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Press.

[32] Lee, J. C. H. (2010) Islamization and Activism in Malaysia . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Press.

[33] Li-ann, T. (2006) Apostasy and religious freedom: Constitutional issues arising from the Lina Joy litigation. Malayan Law Journal . 2, i–xxii.

[34] Liow, J. C. (2009) Piety and Politics: Islamism in Contemporary Malaysia . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[35] Lombardi, C. B. (2006) State Law as Islamic Law in Modern Egypt: The Incorporation of the Shari'a Into Egyptian Constitutional Law . Leiden: Brill.

[36] Malaysiakini (2009) ABIM Lodges 11 Police Reports against JAG. Malaysiakini . 9 October. Available at: https://m.malaysiakini.com/news/114665 (accessed 14 March 2016).

[37] Malaysian Bar Council (2013) New Powers for Syariah Court with Proposed Amendments. 27 June. Available at: http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/legal/general_news/new_powers_for_Sharia_court_with_proposed_amendments.html (accessed 14 March 2016).

[38] Mandal, S. K. (2003) Transethnic solidarities in a racialised context. Journal of Contemporary Asia . 33 (1), 50–68.

[39] Mohamad, M. (2010) The ascendance of bureaucratic Islam and the secularization of the Sharia in Malaysia. Pacific Affairs . 83 (3), 505–24.

[40] Mutalib, H. (1993) Islam in Malaysia: From Revivalism to Islamic State? Singapore: Singapore University Press.

[41] Muzaffar, C. (1987) Islamic Resurgence in Malaysia . Petaling Jaya: Fajar Bakti.

[42] Nair, S. (1997) Islam in Malaysian Foreign Policy . London: Routledge.

[43] Noor, F. (2004) Islam Embedded: The Historical Development of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, PAS: 1951–2003 . Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Sociological Research Institute.

[44] Phar, K. B. (2009) Islamic Statehood and Maqasid Al-Shariah in Malaysia: A Zero-Sum Game? Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.

[45] Rabasa, A. M. (2004) The Muslim World after 9/11 . Santa Monica: RAND.

[46] Risalah (1983) Islamisasi selepas rombakan cabinet. Risalah 3: 12 & 15.

[47] Risalah (1986) Undang-undang mengenai murtad adalah wajar. Risalah 1: 22.

[48] Risalah (1988) Undang-Undang Islam Yang Terunggul. Risalah 9: 5.

[49] Savaranmuttu, J. (2010) Malaysia: Multicultural society, Islamic state or what? In Siam-Heng, M. H. and Liew, T. C. (eds.) State and Secularism: Perspectives from Asia . Singapore: World Scientific, 279–300.

[50] Saravanamuttu, J. (2010) Malaysia's Foreign Policy: The First Fifty Years: Alignment, Neutralism, Islamism . Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

[51] Seda-Poulin, M. L. (1993) Islamization and legal reform in Malaysia: The Hudud controversy of 1992. Southeast Asian Affairs , 224–42.

[52] Shamsul, A. B. (1995) Inventing certainties: The Dakwah persona in Malaysia. In James, W. (ed.) The Pursuit of Certainty: Religious and Cultural Transformations . London: Routledge, 111–32.

[53] Spiegel, A. (2008) Negotiating women's rights in a translocal space: Women's organisations and networking in Malaysia. In Lachenmann, G. and Dannecker, P. (eds.) Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections . Lanham: Lexington Books, 247–60.

[54] The Star (2013) Mufti: Amend articles in constitution to exclude Muslims. The Star . 28 July. Available at: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2013/07/28/mufti-amend-articles-in-constitution-to-exclude-muslims-exclude-islam-from-provision-on-childs-reli/ (accessed 14 March 2016).

[55] The Sun Daily (2006) Poll shows 73% think we are Islamic state. The Sun Daily . 6 September. Available at: http://www.thesundaily.my/node/172867 (accessed 14 March 2016).

[56] Taylor, V. and Van Dyke, N. (2007) “Get up, stand up”: Tactical repertoires of social movements. In Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A. and Kriesi, H. (eds.) The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements . Oxford: Blackwell, 262–93.

[57] Tilly, C. (1995) Contentious repertoires in Great Britain, 1758–1834. In Traugott, M. (ed.) Repertoires and Cycles of Collective Action . Durham: Duke University Press, 15–42.

[58] Turner, B. S. and Nasir, K. M. (2013) The Sociology of Islam: Collected Essays of Bryan S. Turner . Burlington: Ashgate.

[59] Urwah, A. (1989) Risalah Usrah , vols. 1–3. Kuala Lumpur: Pustaka Salam.

[60] Van Dyke, N. and McCammon, H. J. (2010) Introduction: Social movement coalition formation. In Van Dyke, N. and McCammon, H. J. (eds.) Strategic Alliances: Coalition Building and Social Movements . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, xi–xxviii.

[61] Verma, V. (2002) Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition . Boulder: Lynne Rienner.

[62] Whiting, A. (2010) Seculariam, the Islamic state and the Malaysian legal profession. Asian Journal of Comparative Law . 5 (1), 1–34.

[63] Wiktorowicz, Q. (2004) Introduction. In Wiktorowicz, Q. (ed.) Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1–36.

[64] Yang, G. (2005) Emotional events and the transformation of collective action: The Chinese student movement. In Flam, H. and King, D. (eds.) Emotions and Social Movements . London: Routledge, 79–98.

ReOrient

Demarginalizing the Sharia: Muslim Activists and Legal Reforms in Malaysia

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