An Islamic ‘talak’ between two social media celebrities, later canceled due to reconciliation, has sparked a debate about the trivialization of religion in a country where two-thirds of the population are Muslim. Local authorities, for their part, reactivated on June 22 a committee for the application of sharia, which is currently partially in force in three states of the Malaysian federation. Fear of religious minorities.
Kuala Lumpur () – The news of the first Islamic divorce decreed by Facebook in April and later withdrawn by a couple, probably for reconciliation, has provoked an intense debate in Malaysia and even the intervention of the authorities. The reactions refer above all to the legality and morality of this behaviour. But there are still wide doubts about whether this and other acts of the same type can be proposed and carried out over the Internet, since there is no specific legislation that allows or prohibits it, with the corresponding sanctions.
If the Internet “divorce” between Noor Aziz Johari (DJ Wong) and his wife DJ Sal had gone virtually unnoticed, despite the fact that the woman had consulted relatives and a specialist in Islamic law about the validity of the husband’s unilateral procedure (whose results were all negative), the same did not happen with the apparent reconciliation between the two, who attended an event together on June 19, also on Facebook. Many shouted outraged, others spoke of a farce staged to regain consensus on the network. However, the “case” has highlighted the need to deepen the issue and there are always some who prefer to see it as an offense against the Islamic religion that is practiced by almost two thirds of Malaysians.
The authorities tend to play down what happened, but they also try to seek clarification about it. The head of Religious Affairs of the Prime Minister’s department, Datuk Idris Ahmad, who is attending a meeting of religious figures in the state of Kedah, announced today that he will ask experts on the subject to clarify what happened as soon as possible. He also urged citizens to report to the competent civil or religious authorities any other case of talak (divorce by repudiation) recorded on social networks.
Minister Idris spoke of a probable ignorance of the couple rather than a desire to offend Islam, but also recalled that on June 22 the work of the Commission for the strengthening of the role of Muslim courts dealing with apply sharia, which had been suspended in 2018. So far sharia -Islamic religious law- is partially implemented in three states of the Federation of Malaysia, but pressure is very strong to extend it to Muslims throughout the country as well as opposition from religious minorities, who fear being affected in some way.
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