Penetapan Mazhab Ahli Sunnah Wa al-Jamaah Sebagai Definisi Islam di Malaysia:

Abstract

Islamic law in Malaysia clearly upholds the Ahli Sunnah wa al-Jamaah school of thought (Sunni) as a recognized sect. That provision has several implications especially towards the freedom of religion among the religious minority groups including muslim sects who are not Sunni. The issue is to what extent is freedom of religion as provided by the Federal Constitution guarantees the freedom to Muslim religious minority groups. The objective of this article is to study the freedom to propagate amongst non-Sunni religious minority groups in Malaysia. This article found that the freedom to profess and practice are fully protected by the Constitution. However such freedom does not include the right to progragate the teaching amongst Muslims. The religious minority groups’ freedom of religion are not affected since they are still allowed to profess and practice their beliefs. This article implies the real concept of freedom of religion which has some limitations, not an absolute protection, even to the Muslim religious minority group who are non-Sunni. This article may inspire future research on the extend of limitation of freedom of religion amongst religious minority groups and whether such limitations may instigate them to be involved in terrorism or militancy as a response to the so-called discrimination.