The Selangor Mufti Department (JMNS) today said it did not arbitrarily move a fatwa against Sisters of Islam (SIS).

This, it said, was because a meeting was already with the NGO prior to the July 17 fatwa declaring it as an organisation subscribing to "religious liberalism and pluralism" and is "deviant".

"A meeting between SIS and the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) was held on Jan 12, 2012 at the JMNS meeting room," said Selangor mufti Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid in a statement today.

Mohd Tamyes said the meeting was chaired by himself and eight SIS representatives, including Zainah Anwar, Marina Mahathir and Ratna Osman, were present.

Meanwhile, Selangor PAS today distanced itself from several of the party's MPs who have come to SIS’ defence.

In a statement today, Selangor PAS commissioner Iskandar Samad said the move does not represent the party’s views, and it was not proper of the MPs to openly question the fatwa of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) .

“It will open the floodgates for all fatwa to be questioned. This would surely sow confusion among the Muslims,” he said.

The parliamentarians involved should not have acted in their own accord, Iskandar ( left )  said, because they had contested in elections on the party ticket.

As such the MPs will be referred to the party’s central leadership for further action.

Yesterday, the group of PAS parliamentarians led by Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa held a dialogue session with SIS, hosted by the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMM).

Also present were Shah Alam MP Khalid Abdul Samad and Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud.

At the press conference after the closed-door dialogue session, Mujahid and Khalid both defended SIS saying that it does not hold ‘beliefs in liberalism and pluralism’ that the Selangor fatwa accuses the NGO of.

Khalid had also expressed regret that SIS was not given an opportunity to defend itself before the fatwa was gazetted against it.

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