Justice Hamid Sultan Abu Backer said provisions in state law indicate that in all state syariah legislation, if the issue is to be decided involving a Muslim and a non-Muslim, the jurisdiction does not lie with the Syariah Court.

“Common sense will dictate that it has to fall under the civil courts and convoluted jurisprudence does not help. If some comfort need to be given to litigants in hybrid cases, it does not stop the Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria from directing special courts to hear syariah matters between Muslims and non-Muslims with judges conversant in both the laws.