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Sharia trumps love
Consider the case of Lina Joy and be glad for church-state separation
Date published: 6/11/2007
AGITATION FOR and resistance to gay marriage will be part of the American political conversation for years to come. But at least Americans aren't debating policy governing matrimony between people of different faiths, and no American need endure the psychic agony of a Malaysian woman ironically named Lina Joy.
Miss Joy was born Azlina Jailani into the Muslim religion in officially Islamic Malaysia. At age 26 she converted to Christianity, a bold act in any majority-Muslim society. Later, she sought to marry a Christian man. What followed--for the next nine years--was anything but joyful.
Malaysian law forbids a Muslim and non-Muslim to wed. In the eyes of the country's sharia courts, which govern Muslims by the Quran, Miss Joy, now 43, remains a Muslim because she never sought their permission to exit Islam. This was prudent: All major schools of Islamic law prescribe death or prison for "apostates"--renouncers of Islam.
Malaysia's constitution, as The Economist points out, guarantees that "every person has the right to profess and practice his religion." But a Malaysian Supreme Court tribunal last month ruled 2-1 that secular authorities must defer to sharia in matters of conversion. So in the eyes of the state, too, Miss Joy is a Muslim. Those aren't wedding bells she hears, but the knell of dashed hopes and trampled dignity.
The mailing address of the Malaysian Embassy is 2401 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20038.
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Date published: 6/11/2007
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