Demarginalizing the Sharia: Muslim Activists and Legal Reforms in Malaysia

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ReOrient

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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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Abstract

This article examines the active roles played by Muslim activists in agitating for the expansion of the functions of Sharia (Muslim legal and ethical code) within a given country's constitution and in society at large. Using the Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) – the largest Muslim youth movement in Malaysia – as an illustrative case study, the article examines a process which I term as “demarginalizing the Sharia” by Muslim activists, which connotes an endeavour to reformulate and reassert the position of the Sharia to cover all aspects of the country's laws. Building upon recent works on Islamic activism and drawing from various strands of social movement theory, this essay attempts to conceptualize and explain the various tactics which Muslim movements such as ABIM had adopted to make the case for the Sharia to wield a wider influence in the public domain. Among the tactics which will be discussed are institutional subversion, ideological collaboration and dramatic contention, all of which have been utilized by Muslim activists since the advent of global Islamic resurgence in the 1970s.

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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

Article

Publisher ID: reorient.1.2.0127

DOI: 10.13169/reorient.1.2.0127

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

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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.

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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.

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