KUALA LUMPUR: Sisters in Islam (SIS) confirmed yesterday that it had a meeting with the Selangor Fatwa Council in 2012 but it was not about “liberalism” and “pluralism”, which had been used as a basis to brand the organisation as deviant.

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) said in a statement that the Jan 12 meeting had only discussed its activities and research findings.

SIS insisted that it had not been given the opportunity to defend itself against accusations of promoting liberalism and religious pluralism before the religious authorities issued and gazetted the fatwa against the group in July this year.

The NGO said it was disappointed and puzzled by the Selangor mufti’s statement, as reported by the media last Friday, which had cited the meeting as “evidence” that they had met on the issue of religious liberalism and pluralism.

“If the fatwa council suspected that SIS subscribes to religious liberalism and pluralism, why did they not raise their concerns and make attempts to advise us at the time?

“Why is it that the fatwa declaring SIS as ‘sesat dan menyeleweng daripada ajaran Islam’ was only issued two and a half years later?” SIS asked.

On Oct 31, SIS filed a judicial review against the fatwa, which declared the NGO and any other similar organisations that promoted “liberalism and pluralism” as deviants.

Last Thursday, SIS board member Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir told a press conference that the group had not been informed of the fatwa either before or after it was gazetted, and it had been discovered by accident.

But the following day, the Selangor Mufti Department said that SIS had met with the Selangor fatwa council members on Jan 12, 2012.

“The Selangor Mufti Department denies claims that no meeting was held with SIS before the fatwa on liberalism and religious pluralism was gazetted in July 2014,” Selangor mufti Datuk Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid said in a statement last Friday. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 11, 2014.