[Happy with the outcome: Siti Fatimah (centre) celebrating with her cousin (left) and aunt (right) after the court session at the Penang Syriah Appeals Court in George Town Monday.]

GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA: The Penang Syariah Appeals Court has upheld an earlier order made by the High Court here to allow a Muslim convert Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah to revert to Buddhism.

A three-member panel who presided over the case as the highest authority in the Syariah Jurist System here, found that the respondent did not practise Islam from the start of her conversion, which began after she took an oath of allegiance and recited holy words in Arabic.

In delivering the judgment, Justice Datuk Ibrahim Lembut said it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that Siti Fatimah whose birth name is Tan Ean Huang, 39, from Nibong Tebal, did not practise Islam and had not embraced the religion sincerely.

The two other judges were Datuk Muhammad Asri Abdullah and Datuk Abu Bakar Ahmad.

Justice Ibrahim noted that there were differing opinions among the panel members on whether Muslims were allowed to renounce their faith.

However, they agreed that in Siti Fatimah's case, she was a convert who did not realise the consequences of her actions when she embraced Islam.

After hearing arguments from the plaintiff, which is the state Islamic Religious Council, and the respondent's lawyer Ahmad Jailani Abdul Ghani, Ibrahim, Justice Ibrahim said Islam was sacred so its followers must adopt its teachings faithfully.

"However, we cannot impose its teachings on non-believers nor force people to embrace Islam," he added.

The judges took into account two main aspects before making a decision on the appeal by the council to set aside the state Syariah High Court's decision.

They are whether the court has the legal right to allow a renouncement of the faith and whether it can decide the status of a convert who had not practised the required religious teachings.

Ibrahim said the case was an isolated one because Siti Fatimah had proven that she did not practise the religion. He stressed that if there was evidence that converts had practised the religion after their conversion, the court would have the right to disallow renouncement.

During the proceedings, Siti Fatimah who is a hawker, testified that she converted to Islam in July 1998 for the sake of marrying an Iranian named Ferdoun Ashanian in 1999.

Fardoun left her a few months into the marriage and she had no knowledge of his whereabouts since then.

Consequently, Siti Fatimah maintained her Buddhist leanings and prayed daily to deities such as Tua Pek Kong, Guan Yin and Thni Kong.

Siti Fatimah told journalists that she would be praying at a Taoist temple in Nibong Tebal to express her gratitude that she had finally managed to resolve a disturbing personal issue despite it taking more than 10 years to conclude.