Islam in Malaysia
[8][9] Nine of the Malaysian states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah, Perak, Perlis, Selangor, Johor, and Negeri Sembilan have constitutional Malay monarchs (most of them styled as Sultans).
On the occasion of Malaysia's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's 80th birthday, he stated in the edition of 9 February 1983 of the newspaper The Star that the "country has a multi-racial population with various beliefs.
[14] Individual Arab traders, including Sahabas, preached in the Malay Archipelago, Indo-China, and China in the early seventh century.
[citation needed] The religion was adopted peacefully by the people of the coastal trading ports in modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia, absorbing rather than conquering existing beliefs.
[21][22] In February 2014, Edry Faizal, a coordinator in charge of the Democratic Action Party, claimed that it was inconsistent from a Quranic point of view to forbid Muslims from freely changing beliefs, but from his point of view was the best alternative that the power had found to preserve its Malaysian electorate and consequently to remain in power continuously.
But he concluded that this was necessary because: "This is in line with our efforts to make Malaysia a modern, progressive Muslim country in order to achieve the status of a developed nation with a high income for 2020".
[23] In recent years, more and more voices have been asked to try to determine the number of ethnic Malay people supposed to have left Islam.
Nonetheless, these remarks later triggered a polemic often repeated in the media by Islamist and nationalist circles that recognising the right of the Malayans and the entire Muslim community to be free to choose their own beliefs would risk provoking a "Massive exodus of apostates" within the nation, the same slogan has also been listed on the official website of Islam in Malaysia.
On 17 December 2015, Malaysian Police Chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar during a speech, alluded to this mysterious report: "I can not tell you how much this issue is potentially explosive.
[30] In March 2015, unrest erupted in Miri, Sarawak, when a 13-year-old Dayak schoolgirl complained to the police, along with her parents, after being sequestrated at her school by two of her teachers who wanted to convert her to Islam by forcing her to recite Shahada.
[31][failed verification] On 4 December 2015, Malaysian feminist and human rights activist, Shafiqah Othman Hamzah wrote, "What we are living in Malaysia is almost no different from apartheid.
She criticised some politicians and community leaders for leading to "a multi-racial and multi-religious country, but it is with a heavy heart that I say we are not in harmony.
"[32] On 9 February 2016,[33] the Putrajaya Federal Court ruled on a scandal termed the "S Deepa Affair" dating back to 4 September 2013, involving forced conversions of children to Islam in a Hindu couple married since 2003.
In this case, the father N. Viran converted to Islam in November 2012 under the name of Izwan Abdullah decided to impose his conversion to his two children, his son Mithran and his daughter Sharmila.
Becoming the only person judged capable of raising them, he had obtained from the Shari'a court of Seremban their sole custody and through this the dissolution of his marriage.
However, the Seremban High Court ruled that the annulment of the marriage was illegal and decided to return the custody of the children to the mother on 7 April 2014.
[40] This Chinese Muslim community was led by Yan Ying Yu, who urged his followers to assimilate and take local names.
Mosques are an ordinary scene throughout the country and azan (call to prayer) from minarets are heard five times a day.
Anti-Shi'ism reaches such an extent that the mainstream media often present Iran in a bad light while often glorying Saudi Arabia.
[46] For example, in 2019 Malaysian police raided multiple private functions commemorating the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali at the battle of Karbala, arresting scores of foreign and local Shia Muslims.
[48] Muslims who believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be the fulfilment of the Islamic prophecies concerning the return of Jesus, the Ahmadiyya, are also present.
A significant number of words in the Malay vocabulary can trace their origins to Arabic which is the common language of Islamic prayer and rituals.
This is, however, not exclusive and words from other cultures such as Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, Sanskrit, Tamil, English, and French can also be found in the Malay language.
At certain Malaysian institutions such as the International Islamic University, wearing of the tudung is mandatory; however, for non-Muslim students this usually amounts to a loosely worn piece of cloth draped over the back of the head.
Consequently, apostate Malays would have to forfeit all their constitutional privileges, including their Bumiputra status, which entitles them to affirmative action in university admissions and discounts on purchases of vehicles or real estate.
It is legally possible to become a Malay if a non-Malay citizen with a Malaysian parent converts to Islam and thus claims all the Bumiputra privileges granted by Article 153 of the Constitution and the New Economic Policy (NEP).
A tertiary textbook for Malaysian studies following the government-approved syllabus states: "This explains the fact that when a non-Malay embraces Islam, he is said to masuk Melayu ("become a Malay").
[citation needed] Accusations of prosleytization have been used regularly by various Muslim politicians against Christians in order to court support from the Malays.
[57] During the campaign for the 2022 Malaysian General Elections, Muhyiddin Yassin, the leader of Perikatan Nasional warned that his opponents were agents of a Jewish and Christian agenda out to colonize Malaysia.
[62] Despite the hijab, or tudung being non-mandatory in Malaysia, some government buildings enforce within their premises a dresscode which bans women, Muslim and non-Muslim, from entering while wearing "revealing clothes".
