Conversion to Islam in relation to divorce in Malaysian familiy law

Malaysia is a multi-religious country that recognizes two types of family law based upon the Law Reform Marriage and Divorce Act 1976 and the Islamic Family Law. The former administers the marriage matters of non-Muslims, and the latter deals with Muslim family affairs. This paper aims to elucidate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Main Author: Kusrin, Zuliza (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge 2006
In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Year: 2006, Volume: 17, Issue: 3, Pages: 307-315
Further subjects:B Women
B gender problems
B Gesellschaftsmodell
B Law
B Islam
B Laws
B Gesetze
B Genderproblematik
B Malaysia
B Social System
B Frauen
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
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Summary:Malaysia is a multi-religious country that recognizes two types of family law based upon the Law Reform Marriage and Divorce Act 1976 and the Islamic Family Law. The former administers the marriage matters of non-Muslims, and the latter deals with Muslim family affairs. This paper aims to elucidate the matter of the conversion of a non-Muslim spouse to Islam in connection with an application to dissolve a marriage in Malaysia. When both the husband and wife have solemnized and registered their marriage under the Law Reform Marriage and Divorce Act but one of the parties subsequently converts to Islam, Section 51 of the Law Reform Marriage and Divorce Act contains a provision for the dissolution of the marriage. On the other hand, the Islamic Family Law also has certain provisions to be applied in the case of conversion. As a consequence of the conversion, neither party to the marriage continues to be bound by the same family law provision. Thus there arise several issues to be identified and clarified, such as who has the right to file the divorce petition, which court has the jurisdiction to adjudicate the petition, and whether there is any conflict of interest between the parties in the process of dissolving their marriage. This paper attempts to highlight and discuss the issue of conversion, by making a comparative study between the provisions in the Law Reform Marriage and Divorce Act and the Islamic Family Law.
ISSN:0959-6410
Contains:In: Islam and Christian-Muslim relations
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/09596410600794988