'Syariah lawyers must be Muslims'

The New Straits Times 
by ILI LIYANA MOKHTAR, LING POH LEAN AND NUR ADILLA NOORAZAN

SYARIAH lawyers need to be Muslim, because if non-Muslims were appointed, the syariah court rulings will be non-binding towards them.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, however, welcomed non-Muslims who wanted to study syariah to enhance their knowledge of Islamic law.

Jamil was replying to Nasharudin Mat Isa (Pas-Bachok) who wanted the government to state when it would implement the Legal Syariah Act.

Jamil said he agreed with Nasharudin that the laws regarding syariah lawyers in the country should be streamlined.

Currently, each state has different laws governing the conduct of syariah lawyers, making it difficult for them to practise in different states.

Jamil said the government was working closely with the Malaysian Syariah Lawyers' Association to draft a suitable legislation for the Syariah Legal Profession Act.

He said the government had distributed concept papers of the proposed Syariah Legal Profession Act to state governments to receive feedback from law practitioners.