Can a Non Muslim Be a Syariah Lawyer

Topic: A Non-Muslim Shariah Lawyer Thesis Statement : ————————————————- A Non Muslim cannot be a Syariah lawyer First of all, a non-muslim cannot be a syariah lawyer simply because a syariah lawyer must be a muslim.

Rule 10 of the PeguamSyarie Rules 1993 (Federal Territories), section (a) clearly provides that a person may be admitted to be a syariah lawyer only if he or she (i) is a Muslim and has passed the final examination which leads to the certificate of bachelor’s degree in Syariah from any university or any Islamic educational institution recognized by the government of Malaysia or(ii) is a Muslim member of the judicial and legal service of the Federation or (iii) is a Muslim advocate and solicitor enrolled under the Legal Profession Act 1967. PeguamSyarie Rules 1993) ; (Legal Profession Act 1967). To sum up the act above with simpler words, one must be a muslim in order to practice as a syariah lawyer in Malaysia besides the other contributing factors such as he or she must be a graduate from any university or Islamic institution, or an advocate or solicitor under the Legal Profession Act 1967. According to Dr.

Wan Azhar bin Wan Ahmad in his article Non-MuslimsSyarie Lawyers, he has stated that , the answer to the question of “Can a non-muslim apply to be a syariah lawyer? “ is being categorized as a “No”. If a non muslim applies to be a syariah lawyer, he or she can be considered as violating the law and shall be penalized for it. The legal rules set up clearly shows that in this rule 10 section (a) clause (i) ,(ii) and (iii) requires a muslim to be attached to all of these clauses in order to become a syariah lawyer.

This was proven when aNational Fatwa Council of Malaysia has decided that a non-muslim cannot become a syariah lawyer in order to protect the purity of Islam during the review of Victoria Jayaseele Martin’s application in challenging the court to accept a non-muslim to be a syariah lawyer. Martin’s application was struck off by the court. The second point to back up the reason why a syariah lawyer must be a muslim is because he has to deal with the Islamic matters.

As for example, he has to strictly deal with the Islamic teachings, principles and practices of the tenets of Islam such as the reciting of the syahada, daily prayers, fasting during the month of Ramadhan ,almsgiving and the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime. If a non-muslim that do not practice all the tenets of Islam mentioned above, the people that are hiring him for their cases, may raise doubt on his credibility. (http://executableoutlines. com/islam/islam_03. htm) Another reason why a non-muslim cannot be syariah lawyer is because Syariah lawyer must be an expert in the understandings of Al-Quran and Hadith