Imagine losing your spouse, only to be told that you will have no say in the final disposal of the remains because of an alleged religious conversion.

Imagine legal action being taken by a religious court to force teh burial of you spous's body according to the rites of that other religion -- and not being permitted to testify because you are not of that faith.

Imagine the civil courts declaring themselves powerless to intervene and provide you with the opportunity to present evidence that there was no conversion.

The widow of Malaysian mountaineer M. Moorthy lived exactly that horrific scenario this week.

A Malaysian mountaineering hero will be buried as a Muslim, against the wishes of his Hindu wife, who denied he had converted to Islam before his death.

The decision follows a High Court ruling that it cannot override the country's Islamic courts in matters of religious conversion.

An Islamic court had said the man, M Moorthy, had become a Muslim last year.

Lawyers say the case highlights problems faced by non-Muslims dealing with Malaysia's Islamic justice system.

"So much for good interracial relations," Haris Mohamad Ibrahim, a lawyer representing Malaysia's Bar Council, told The Associated Press.

"The judge has just told the widow and her family to go back and leave the body of their beloved to be buried by strangers."

Moorthy's brother and some of his former army colleagues claimed that he had convertedlast year. But only two months ago, he gave an interview about his preparations for the Hindu religious festival of Diwali. The family was forbidden from providing testimony or evidence before the Sharia court, rendering the proceeding nothing more than a barbaric farce (not that Sharia courts are capable of being other than a barbaric farce). And the civil courts provided no due process or source of redress for the Hindu family.

In dismissing the application by MoorthyÂ’s widow, S. Kaliammal, Raus noted that the main issue brought before him was whether Moorthy had converted to Islam or was still a Hindu.

"The civil court has no jurisdiction to review the Syariah High Court decision," he told a packed courtroom.

Raus also said although there were affidavits filed by Kaliammal, her brother and a friend stating that Moorthy participated in Hindu rituals, the question of jurisdiction to decide the matter still lay with the Syariah court and not the civil court.

For this reason, he said, he could only grant one relief sought by the widow — that she was the deceased’s lawful wife until the time of his death on Dec 20.

Kaliammal, in her originating summons filed on Wednesday, sought a declaration that Moorthy was a Hindu and followed Hindu rituals, a declaration Moorthy was not a Muslim, and a declaration that documents proving MoorthyÂ’s conversion were null and void.

After the judge handed down his decision, M. Manoharan, lawyer for the widow, applied unsuccessfully for a stay of execution for them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

In other words, the Sharia court had full and unreviewable authority to steal the body over the objections of the family based upon claims of a conversion that not even his Muslim brother claims to have been aware of until after Moorthy's death.

The body was then seized and buried according to Muslim rights, with the Hindu family not attending the funeral which was an affront to their faith and basic decency.

MORE AT: Maobi, Reduced and Recycled, Rajan Rishyakaran, KTemoc Konsiders, Retake Constantinople, Politics 101 Malaysia, Mental Block, Daniel Pipes, The Enemy Is You.

Posted by: Greg at 11:15 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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