The implementation of the Terengganu hudud laws must be suspended until all the necessary infrastructures are in place and functioning efficiently to ensure justice for all.

Sisters In Islam (SIS) said although human judgment cannot deny the prescribed punishment for offences as stated in the Quran, human judgment can decide whether the condition of society and authority is ready to enforce a just hudud law.

"The implementation of the state's Syariah Criminal Laws (hudud and qisas) is only possible if all prerequisites of hudud that guarantee justice are already in place and functioning," said SIS in a press statement today.

The non-governmental organisation (NGO) said promoting and protecting the human rights of the ummah , ensuring socio-economic justice, educating the ummah about God's teachings and laws to enable them to be responsible and law abiding, are prerequisites to be fulfilled before the hudud punishments are implemented.

"To insist on the implementation of hudud without providing the necessary context and environment can be detrimental," the group said.

SIS also advised Terengganu to learn from countries that had imposed hudud without prerequisites such as Nigeria and Pakistan whose implementation had only brought disrepute to both Islam and hudud.

"Their implementation of such hudud laws had shown itself to be an extreme criminal violation and discrimination against women," it said.

Political mileage

It claimed that the state government's attitude in "do first and we shall see" is only to gain political mileage when syariah is based and constructed on what is reasonable and secures the best interest of people and not for individual or political interest.

The group also questioned the absence of a mechanism for repentance and reform in the state's Hudud Bill when the Quran has stated four instances which provide provisions for repentance and reform.

It also questioned the fact that the Bill had denied women and non-Muslims from being witnesses, claiming that the Quran does not prohibit them from being witnesses.

SIS said the real concept of hudud in the Quran is a much broader concept which is neither confined to punishments nor to a legal framework, but provides a comprehensive concept which embodies all God's teachings and laws relating to moral, legal and religious guidelines.

However, it added, the state's Hudud Bill had reduced this broad comprehensive view to mean quantified, mandatory and invariable punishment.

SIS stressed that the goal of Islamic authorities in introducing hudud is to prevent crime and not to inflict punishment.