The Malaysian Insight

IT is lack of knowledge that is causing Muslims to be upset over the court ruling allowing illegitimate Muslim children to bear the father’s name, says former Terengganu mufti Ismail Yahya.

The cleric said the court decision had not affected the peace and harmony in the country nor had it changed the Islamic administration structure.

The Federal Court on Friday allowed the National Registration Department (NRD) application to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision allowing Illegitimate Muslim children to have the name of the biological father on the birth certificate.

The NRD’s current practice is to name the father as “Abdullah” in cases of illegitimate Muslim births.

The Federal Court will decide if the legal provision that allows illegitimate child to use the name of the father can also be applied on Muslims under Section 13A of Birth and Death Registration Act 1957.

Ismail said the Court of Appeal’s decision protected the rights of illegitimate children, but those who lacked understanding of Islamic law had resorted to calling the court “kaffir” .

“They should have asked what the judges said during judgement. They went through 32 pages. The judges did not just make it up,” said Ismail 

He was one of four panelists invited to discuss the topic ” Anak Tak Sah Taraf - Bin Abdullah: Antara Stigma, Hak & Agama” at a forum organised by Sisters In Islam in Kuala Lumpur today.

Shariah and civil lawyer Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz said bearing the name of the father did not change the religious status of the child in the eyes of the law.

“The issue here is that the illegitimate child can use the name of the father. It does not change the position of the child being a Muslim,” he said.

He said those who were against the court ruling were seeing it only from the legal perspective and not the moral aspect.

“When I say moral, it also touches on the spiritual aspect in the Islamic perspective,” said Munawir.

On Friday, a three-men bench led by Federal Court judge Md Raus Sharif allowed three legal points to be brought up on the issue of the act, with jurisdiction as the main point.

The three points are if the birth and death registrar can refer to Islamic law when registering the birth of a Muslim child; if the civil court can decide on issues in the naming of a Muslim child and the usage of the name of the biological father; and if Section 13A of the Birth and Death Registration Act 1957 can register a Muslim child  and use the name of the man who declares himself the father of the child.

The National Fatwa Council on 2003 issued an edict stating that illegitimate children cannot carry the name of the father if they are born   less than six months from the date of the parents matrimony.

In July, the Court of Appeal decided that NRD was not bound to obey the edict. – September 9, 2017.