Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/moorthy_funeral.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zahedamanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/\",\"name\":\"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\"},\"description\":\"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba\",\"name\":\"zahedamanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zahedamanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?","description":"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?","og_description":"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/moorthy_funeral.jpg"}],"author":"zahedamanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zahedamanullah","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/","name":"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-01-04T07:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba"},"description":"A contested conversion after the death of a Malaysian mountaineering hero sparks a controversy over legal access by non-Muslims to sharia court decisions in Muslim majority countries.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2006\/01\/a_conversion_in_death_for_malaysian_everest_hero\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conversion controversy: A conversion in death for Malaysian Everest hero?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/871b6e097b0060bce500f444bd5940ba","name":"zahedamanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68e9dbf4389ab27835e68d36332be3f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zahedamanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/zahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Over my dead body<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Eight days after M. Moorthy, a member of the first Malaysian team to conquer Mt. Everest in 1997, passed away, he was laid to rest<\/a> in a Muslim burial. Unremarkable news, save for the fact that Moorthy\u2019s widow and relatives claim he was a practicing Hindu<\/a> who never converted to Islam in the first place. Moorthy, a 36 year old former corporal in the Malaysian army and a national hero<\/a> in that country, lapsed into a coma on November 11th before passing away on December 20th. During that time, military officials claimed Moorthy declared<\/a> shahada<\/i> the year before, with his conversion registered the following May. \u201cBased on the documents submitted, it is confirmed that Mohammad died as a Muslim and should be buried accordingly,\u201d said Malaysian sharia court secretary Che Mat Che Ali. Sharia courts are often used in parallel justice systems in Muslim countries with sizable non-Muslim minorities (40% in Malaysia\u2019s case), which is where the focus of the controversy then turned. Moorthy\u2019s family went to the civil courts to protest the conversion only to find the civil courts had no jurisdiction over Moorthy (or rather, his body) and the sharia ruling. \u201cThey have been telling lies. Nothing but lies,\u201d said<\/a> his widow, Kaliammal Sinnasamy, adding that he was interviewed for local television two months ago about his preparations for the Hindu festival of Diwali. Further complicating matters, Mr Moorthy\u2019s conversion to Islam meant his marriage to his Hindu wife may not have been considered valid (nor her claim to his estate). None of Moorthy\u2019s family members attended the burial ceremony except for his brother, Mohammad Hussain Abdullah (yup, he converted), who was not aware that Moorthy had become a Muslim. \u201cI only found out about this when he died and was surprised,\u201d said<\/a> Abdullah, who waived his claim to Moorthy\u2019s estate in favour of his widow. \u201cBut there\u2019s no point in pursuing this matter any further. The court has made a ruling.\u201d The case has sparked the interest of Malaysia\u2019s other religious minorities (Sikhs, Christians, and Buddhists), who now argue<\/a> for the right of the civil courts to decide on conversion, and whether non-Muslims have any rights to the body of a converted family member. Sharia court officials say the family could have contested<\/a> in sharia court by hiring a sharia lawyer. The religious minorities aren\u2019t buying it<\/a> and are continuing their protest<\/a> of the burial, while Moorthy\u2019s widow vows to continue her legal fight<\/a>. The Malaysian government, spooked by the negative publicity, has asked the media to stop reporting<\/a> the case, though a prominent government minister has voiced his opposition<\/a> to the decision and the military has promoted<\/a> Moorthy posthumously to Sergeant. Ultimately, resolution of the issue will depend on legal access<\/a> for non-Muslims over Islamic legal matters and clearer confirmation<\/a> of conversion. \u201cThe lack of an avenue for remedy that is recognised by both Muslim and non-Muslim litigants has been the sorest point raised by the Moorthy case,\u201d said<\/a> one editorial. \u201cIf (one) doesn\u2019t (profess conversion) voluntarily, the state should do it for him, and provide the means for adjudication in the event of doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"