Muslim or not?

The score stands at:

Muslims: 990
Others: 1

Congratulations to Mr. Gilbert Freeman, who, on Friday, managed to change his religion from Islam to Christian. In a country that professes to have freedom of religion, there sure isn't a lot of it if you happen to be born into the wrong one. Interestingly enough, the reason the Shariah court gave for approving the change:

The Shariah court ruled that he is not a Muslim. He is not practicing Islam, and he hasn't applied to be a Muslim.

I'm not sure whether being born and brought up in a religion constitutes applying to be in that religion, but I, for one, am definitely happy that neither my parents, nor my government is forcing me to be in any religion.

From the IHT:

Malaysian wins court battle to become Christian

The Associated Press

Published: March 6, 2000

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: An Islamic court in Malaysia ruled Friday that a man given an Islamic name at birth was a Christian, a rare victory for religious minorities in this Muslim-majority nation.

The man — whose original identity card listed his name as "Mohammad Shah alias Gilbert Freeman" — brought his case to the Shariah court in southern Negeri Sembilan state after the National Registration Department refused to accept he was a Christian and allow him to drop his Islamic name when he applied for a new identity card.

Lawyer Hanif Hassan said his client, who is 61, was raised as a Christian by his mother, and his Islamic name came from his Muslim father, who left the family when he was only 2-months-old. Freeman is married according to Christian rites and has three children who are Christians.

"The Shariah court ruled that he is not a Muslim. He is not practicing Islam, and he hasn't applied to be a Muslim," Hanif told The Associated Press.

He said his client was happy with the Shariah court's decision.

"This is a rare case but it shows that the Shariah courts are not rigid and are able to help resolve inter-religious disputes," he said.

Malaysia has a dual court system. Muslims are governed by the Islamic Shariah courts while civil courts have jurisdiction over non-Muslims. But inter-religious disputes usually end up in Shariah courts, and end in favor of Muslims.

Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 27 million people are Muslims. Buddhist, Christian and Hindu minorities have accepted Islam's dominance but in recent years voiced fears that courts are unfairly asserting the supremacy of Islam, which is Malaysia's official religion.

Freeman sought the court's help because he said he was getting old and he didn't want any confusion over whether he should receive a Christian burial after, Hanif said.

There have been several cases of Islamic authorities claiming the bodies of people they say converted secretly to Islam.