Govt to further strengthen syariah courts, says Prime Minister
SEPANG: Elevating the jurisdiction of the syariah courts will be among the improvements made to syariah judiciary and legal institutions, said the Prime Minister.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the government was committed to strengthening and further empowering the institutions whose role was to uphold and defend Islam.
Aside from improving the jurisdiction of the courts, the appointments of more syariah judges and court officials would also be looked into, he added.
“I am aware that the duty and responsibility that syariah judges and officers have to shoulder is heavy.
“I hope they will exercise patience, be sincere and uphold high integrity in carrying out their duties,” he said at the launch of the Nusantara Syariah Judiciary and Legal Conference.
Present at the conference were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Zulkifli Al-Bakri and director-general of the Syariah Judiciary Department Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar.
The Prime Minister said efforts taken to fight Covid-19 infections, including enforcing the movement control order (MCO) and closing mosques for prayers, saw the government using maqasid syariah as its guiding principles to fight the pandemic.
He said while maqasid syariah or the objectives of Islamic law were not used as slogans or placed on banners as the country fought the spread of the virus, the principles were in fact the basis of the government’s initiatives.
The principles of maqasid syariah call for the protection of religion, lives, mind, property and generations.
To protect lives, the government had enforced several phases of the MCO, the Prime Minister noted.
“As the government, it is our duty to curb the spread of a dangerous virus and that was why we enforced the MCOs,” he added.
Muhyiddin said that maqasid syariah had always been the guiding principle of the country’s administrations – both present and past – to ensure the well-being of all Malaysians.
Protecting the religion was another topic that was discussed throughout the MCO, which, he said, had created a new norm in the lives of Muslims.
“In the early stages, we had to close mosques for prayers to avoid Covid-19 infections.
“Now, we have allowed congregational prayers but it comes with strict standard operating procedures in place.
“Here you can see how we uphold maqasid syariah, which is to protect lives and religion,” the Prime Minister added.