Word: sharis
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...fallen in love with a Hindu man. But because of her parents' earlier conversion, she was deemed a Muslim and a judge refused to change her religious status. Revathi's marriage was never recognized by the state, nor was her daughter's birth. Earlier this year, an Islamic Shari'a court ordered her to spend six months at a Faith Rehabilitation Center, where she had to wear a Muslim headscarf and pray five times a day. "The constitution says there's freedom of religion in Malaysia, but I have not felt that freedom," says the 30-year-old homemaker...
...Local rules need to be followed, too, if Malaysia is to continue attracting foreign investment. In September, two Shari'a court officials were detained over corruption charges. In the same month, 1,000 lawyers and activists, including the country's Bar Council president, took to the streets to highlight what they consider deteriorating judicial independence and integrity. Their protest was galvanized by a video clip that appeared to show a well-known lawyer helping fix top bench appointments. (The government says it will set up a royal commission to investigate the video.) "I used to be proud...
...people are deeply conservative Muslims, yet highly tolerant of the liberal ways of international visitors. In recent months, however, Swat has changed. Maulana Fazlullah, a fundamentalist preacher known as the "FM Mullah" for his daily radio sermons, has launched a campaign for the establishment of Islamic law, or Shari'a, in the valley. Fazlullah is backed by Pakistani extremists who share an Islamist ideology with the Afghan Taliban next door. These militants have unleashed a wave of violence on Swat that has claimed nearly 300 lives, mostly security personnel, and that has driven nearly half a million residents from their...
...jail for mobilizing thousands of his followers to fight American forces in Afghanistan. Fazlullah, who by then was Mohammed's son-in-law, also went to Afghanistan to fight. Radicalized by the experience, and by his short stint in an Afghan jail, he returned to continue the campaign for Shari'a using the platform of his popular radio show. "He is a very good speaker," says Zaibi Raziq. "He gets the attention of a lot of people." In a region plagued by corruption and government inefficiency, Fazlullah's demand for rule of law - even Islamic law - struck a chord. "Many...
...already established a foothold. Khan, the businessman from Matta, was sent threatening letters after he denounced Fazlullah's men for killing his cousin. "They have spies everywhere," he says. For too long, the central government ignored the problems festering in Swat, concerned that a crackdown on demands for Shari'a would alienate the country's Islam-based political parties. By the time the military tried to intervene, a homegrown insurgency was in full swing. Fazlullah equated resistance to the government with an anti-American jihad that had already gained some support among Swat's Pashtuns, who belong to same ethnic...