KANGAR: The Perlis Islamic Religious Council and Malay Customary Council (MAIPs) may file an appeal to challenge the Court of Appeal's decision to declare the unilateral conversion of Loh Siew Hong's three children to Islam by her former husband as invalid.
Perlis mufti Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has hinted that the council may file an appeal against the decision.
He pointed out that the Court of Appeal's decision was not a defeat to Perlis and the state Islamic religious administrator.
"We (Perlis) did not lose, we have played our part until the Court of Appeal decided to set aside the decision made by the High Court to retain the status quo of being Muslims (Loh's children).
"The Court of Appeal decided that the Muslims status quo was ruled out and the children are not Muslims based on the court's perspective, we don't want to comment (the decision) the court including the (judgement) of the judges including the Muslim judges.
"We don't know what was in their mind (the judges), but for MAIPs we might file an appeal to fight the case in another level and this is the scenario from the legislation perspective," he said in an online religious preaching class aired live on ProMedia Tajdid platform yesterday.
Asri said from the humanity perspective, when someone came to Islam and his conversion was not done under force by any party, then the conversion is considered legitimate.
"Islam has never forced anyone to embrace the religion and in this case, the father of the children who brought (the children) to us in Perlis and not us who went looking for him.
"From the Islamic clerics' perspective, children aged 10 and above, who understand Islam and convert to Islam then he his considered as being Muslim.
"However, in this matter, we don't know how far is their claim (against the conversion of the children) because for us we have played our part and in one or two years the children will reach the age of 18, if Allah wish good things for the children then they will remember that they had been taught Islam," he said.
Asri added that, the council has never felt any lost as it is a struggle.
"Some said Perlis has lost, this is not a football competition, this is about the dignity of all of you as Muslims in this country and this is not the time to quarrel, this is the time for us to unite on this matter, it is not just the responsibility of the mufti alone, all of us must speak up.
"Islam is something that in the mind of a person, if he is a true Muslim, there is no constitution, identity card or registration that is able to decide his Islamisation except for his faith and we are fighting this case so that others will be able to convert to Islam," he said.
On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal Judge Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail, who led a three-member panel in an unanimous decision has set aside the decision to uphold the unilateral conversion of Loh Siew Hong's three children to Islam by her former husband by the High Court.
She was reported as saying that the lower court had erred and misdirected itself when handing down the ruling.
In reading out the judgement, she said the High Court failed to address two pertinent issues in the judicial review proceedings which are — whether unilateral conversion is lawful and whether Section 117b of the Perlis Enactment Four is unconstitutional as it contradicts Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution.
Loh sought to contest the lower court's decision, which previously stated that there was no evidence indicating that the three children had ceased practicing Islam while under her care.
Last year, on May 11, High Court judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said there was no evidence that the three children had reverted to the Hindu religion.
Loh's three children were converted to Islam by her ex-husband without her consent in 2019, and she is contesting the legality of it.
She aimed to secure a declaration affirming her children's Hindu status and arguing that they were not legally capable of adopting Islam without her authorisation.
Additionally, she seeks to overturn the conversion registration dated July 7, 2020, issued by the registrar.
Loh had named the Registrar of Mualaf, Religious and Malay Customs Council of Perlis, besides Perlis state mufti Datuk Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin and the Perlis state government as respondents.