Case:

Brief Facts:

• The Appellant, Dahlia Dhaima Abdullah (“Dahlia”) was born on 17 November 1986 to a non-Muslim married couple. In 1991, when Dahlia was five years old, her parents separated and her mother took custody of Dahlia.
  
  
• On 17 May 1991, the mother converted to Islam and so did Dahlia, with only the consent of the mother. Although the mother was issued with the certificate of conversion two months later, the certificate of conversion for Dahlia was only issued on 28 August 1993.
  
  
• Many years later, in 2013, Dahlia, then aged 27, filed a summons at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court (“SHC”) seeking a declaration that she was no longer a Muslim.
  
  
• The Syariah High Court dismissed her summons, and Dahlia’s subsequent appeal against the SHC’s decision was also dismissed by the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court of Appeal (“SCA”).
  
  
• Following that decision, Dahlia filed an application against Majlis Agama Islam Selangor and Kerajaan Negeri Selangor (collectively as “the Respondents”) at the High Court (“HC”) in May 2021 seeking a declaration that Dahlia was not a person professing the religion of Islam.
  
  
• The HC granted her application, holding, among others, that the SHC and SCA had no jurisdiction to decide on the case as Dahlia was never a Muslim. Instead, the HC had the jurisdiction to decide this case.

• HC also held that Dahlia also could not be converted because she had not attained the age of puberty and, hence, her purported conversion had contravened section 147 of the Administration of Muslim Law Enactment 1952 (“1952 Enactment”).
  
  
• The Respondents appealed and the Court of Appeal (“CA”), by way of majority decision, allowed their appeals on the ground of absence of jurisdiction alone. Then, Dahlia appealed to the Federal Court (“FC”).

THE DECISION OF COURT OF APPEAL (CA)

• CA set aside that decision of the HC and allowed the appeals.
  
  
• The CA allowed their appeals on the ground that the HC had no jurisdiction to hear this matter.
  
  
• Dahlia appealed to the Federal Court.

THE DECISION OF FEDERAL COURT (FC) – DAHLIA’S APPEAL DISMISSED!

• The Federal Court held that because Dahlia’s application was that she was no longer a Muslim, therefore it was an apostacy case.
  
  
• The Federal Court then held that this same issue was heard at the Shariah Court and they had ruled she was still a Muslim.
  
  
• Therefore, The FC held that the HC was wrong because in effect they substituted the decision of the Shariah Court.
  
  
• The FC said Dahlia’s application was not that she was never a Muslim but that she is no longer a Muslim. Therefore, the Shariah Court has jurisdiction to hear the case and their order was valid.