WTF - Penang Mufti backpedalling on Loh Siew Hong's tragic case - was he "pressured"?

Penang mufti apologises for comments on children’s conversion

Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor says he does not wish for his comments to be interpreted as one-sided or in favour of the mother, Loh Siew Hong. (Bernama pic)


PETALING JAYA: Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor has apologised over comments he made yesterday on the conversion of a single mother’s children to Islam.

Wan Salim said he did not wish for his comments to be interpreted as one-sided or in favour of the mother, Loh Siew Hong.

He said that after listening to the explanation of Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin, he now understood the situation entirely.

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kt comments:

This was what the Penang Mufti said earlier re Loh's case a la Indira Gandhi, as reported by Malay Mail:

Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor has called on the authorities to find a way for Hindu mother, Loh Siew Hong, to regularly meet with her three children who were said to have been unilaterally converted to Islam.

He said the bonds between a mother and her children should never be severed due to differences in religion.

“I do not want to take sides in this case but it is my understanding based on Islamic teachings, the Quran and Hadith of the Prophet that a bond between a mother and her children should never be broken,” he said in a brief statement when Malay Mail contacted him today for comment.

He stressed that Islam is a beautiful, just and religion of grace that emphasises on being caring and tolerant among each other.


“The question of which religion that one embraces is up to the respective individual,” he said.

He stressed that the embracing of Islam is dependent on guidance from Allah.

“In Islam, there is no question of force in embracing the religion and this is what we want everyone to understand,” he said.

Wan Salim was commenting on the issue of Loh, who was given limited time to visit her three children who were allegedly unilaterally converted to Islam.

Anything wrong or in conflict with Islam?

But the poor Penang Mufti is now backpedalling, just less than a day after he initially spoke up on sad case, invariably showing he has been "pressured" to do so and not appeared as to rebut the stern proselytizing words of that other Mufti further up North.