PUTRAJAYA, April 20 – The National Fatwa Council today ruled that all religion-related matters involving Muslim victims of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 could be addressed and solved from the day the Civil Aviation Department (DCA) announced status of the crew and passengers of the ill-fated flight on Jan 29.
Its chairman, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Abd Shukor Husin, said among the matters were the status of marriage, claim for common property and the status of underage children. He said although the search for the missing aircraft was still ongoing, it did not necessarily mean that the matters could not be addressed and solved accordingly.
“We made the decision based on the fact that the power to determine the search operation is on the government and that the government, through the DCA, has announced that they were satisfied with the operation and declared that the disappearance of the aircraft was an accident and that all onboard were presumed dead,” he told reporters after chairing the council’s meeting here.
He said the declaration would also enable the victims’ next-of-kin to submit their insurance claims. On Jan 29, DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman announced that all 239 people onboard MAS flight MH370 which went missing enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 last year were presumed to have lost their lives.
Meanwhile, Abd Shukor repeated the council’s stand that the act of participating, helping or giving aid to IS militant group is forbidden (haram) for Muslims. He said participating in the IS group’s fight was far cry from participating in jihad in Islam. “The IS group believes that the blood of the people who fight against them are halal and thus can be violently killed, which is clearly contravenes the Islamic teachings,” he said.
When asked whether the Malaysian Muslims who joined the IS should repent, he said it was compulsory for them to repent as they had deviated from the Islamic teachings and violated the fatwa (edict) issued in the country. As at last Thursday, police had arrested 95 Malaysians with potential to become terrorists and were involved in the IS militant group.
