Of Joy and conversion

"Lina Joy, formerly known as Azlina Jailani, belonged to the ethnic Malays. She was brought up as a Muslim, but decided to convert to Christianity at the age of 26. In 1999, the National Registration Department allowed her to change the name in her identity card to Lina Joy but the ID entry for her religion remained as "Islam".

According to the Sharia law, Muslim women cannot marry men of other faiths, so Joy cannot legally marry outside the Muslim faith until the ID entry for her religion is deleted.

The legal wrangling started when Joy took the department to court over the anomaly.

Although Malaysia’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, a court ruling in favor of Joy could have serious consequences, analysts say.

"It's political dynamite. It will create instability," Abdul Razak said."

Malaysia awaiting ruling on Islam conversion

Azlina got little joy from the first appellate court case, losing 2 to 1. The opinions of the judges in that case make for fascinating reading. Lina Joy v Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan & 2 Ors 2005 [CA]

But she is making progress in higher courts. "The Federal Court, led by Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, unanimously granted leave to Lina Joy, whose birth name is Azlina Jailani, to appeal after ruling that the principle issue in the case was a matter of public importance and the court's decision on it would be to the public advantage." (Lina Joy Gets Green Light To Appeal)

Guambat has posted before on the topic of apostasy. It's obviously an extremely delicate subject in some parts.

Many Malaysian Muslims are hoping Azlina's case fails.

A visit to the family of Azlina Jailani (Lina Joy)

The Defenders of Islam coalition

"It's now clear that this is no longer an individual's case where he or she wants to apostate as they feel like it. This is now open warfare between the Syariah Courts of the Kingdom of Malaysia against an American Organisation that bankrolls those who want to apostate, especially from Malaysia, a 'crucial' point of Christian evangelical struggles here in South East Asia."

Replies to those in favour of Lina Joy