M.H.

Sara Fathima

18ENG54

Malaysia

Religion

Malaysia is a country which is multicultural and accepts other religions but its official

religion is Islam . It is known to be a religious and also sometimes known as Islamic country.

The Federal Constitution is the supreme law of Malaysia . According to the dual justice

system of law of the Constitution of Malaysia , the ‘Sharia Law’ (Islamic law) known and

spelled as ‘syariah’ in Malaysia plays a relatively small role in defining the laws on the

country because it only applies to Muslims . The Federal Constitution of Malaysia protects

the right to freedom of religion or belief , including religious manifestation by way of

professing , practising and propagating one’s religious beliefs . The Malay people existed

before Islam . They were Animists , Hindus , and Buddhists before embracing Islam . The

only link between Malay as an ethnic group and Islam as a religion is the Federal

Constitution .

Islam was introduced by traders arriving from Arabia , China and the Indian subcontinent.

It became firmly established in the fifteenth century . Islam is followed by three-fifths of the

population of Malaysia . Islam in Malaysia is represented by the Shafi’i version (one of the

four major traditional schools of Islamic law in Sunni Muslim) . Islam is one of the most

important factors distinguishing a Malay from a non-Malay ,and , by law , all Malays are

Muslim . Among the non-Malay indigenous peoples, many of the peninsula’s Orang Asli (a

collective term for some eighteen ethnic groups of less than 1,50,000 in total who are

regarded as Peninsular Malaysia’s original inhabitants who existed even before the arrival of

Malays) have adopted Islam , but some communities maintain local religions . Conversion
from Islam to another religion is against the law but the conversion from another religion to

Islam is welcomed . The law requires that anyone from other religion should convert to Islam

in order to marry a Muslim . Otherwise the marriage is considered illegal .

Buddhism is the second largest religion in Malaysia . Most Malaysian Chinese follow

Mahayana Buddhism or Chinese traditional religion (including Taoism , Confucianism and

ancestor worship). Hinduism is the fourth largest religion in Malaysia . About 1.64 million of

Indian ethnic group Malaysians (86%) are Hindus. About 0.14 million non-Indian ethnic

group Malaysians also claim to be Hindus . Most of the Sri Lankans also practise Hinduism .

Some Indians also follow Christianity . The Sikhs from India adhere to Sikhism in Malaysia .

A community of around 2,500 Jains lives in Malaysia . A small Jewish community existed on

the island of Penang. By the 1990s the Jewish community had disappeared . A small Bahá’í

Faith community exists in Malaysia , with members from Chinese , Eurasian , Indian ,

Indigenous communities . It was introduced to to Malaya by an Iranian couple in 1950 . As of

the 2010 Population and Housing Census , 19.8% population of Malaysia practises

Buddhism, 9.2% Christianity and 1.3% traditional Chinese religions .