The High Court has dismissed applications by GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd and its CEO, Nasiruddin Ali, for leave to challenge a state fatwa imposed on them two years ago.
Justice S Narkunavathy, in dismissing the applications, held that the civil courts have no jurisdiction to hear the matter.
“Both cases involve a dispute on Islamic tenets, which is not a matter for the civil courts.
“When the court undertakes such a review, it becomes an arbiter of Islamic faith which would constitute a direct usurpation and encroachment into the shariah courts’ jurisdiction,” the judge said.
The court also distinguished between the fatwa issued against GISB and one imposed in 2014 on women’s rights group, SIS Forum (Malaysia).
Last year, the Federal Court ruled that no fatwa could be imposed on SIS Forum as the organisation itself was incapable of professing a religion.
“The court finds that unlike the fatwa on SIS Forum, the current fatwa is clearly confined to GISB’s leaders, followers, employees and members, all of whom are natural persons,” said Narkunavathy.
In October 2024, the Selangor government issued a fatwa declaring GISB an organisation promoting deviant teachings.
The state fatwa committee said GISB’s leaders, followers, workers, members and wider network had been found to be practising the teachings of the Darul Arqam group, which was banned in 1993.
