Let this be the start of a worldwide movement by women to
leave Islam which declares them inferior and to be beaten if they
speak up .. Quran 4.34
excerpt
A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Muslim convert Thursday to
return to her original faith of Buddhism, setting a precedent that
could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights.
Lawyers said the Shariah High Court's verdict in the northern state of
Penang might be the first time in recent memory that a convert has
been permitted to legally renounce Islam in this Muslim-majority
nation.
A rising number of disputes about religious conversions has sparked
anxiety among minorities _ predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu
_ because in the past courts virtually always ruled against people
seeking to leave Islam.
Penang's Shariah court, however, granted Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's
request to be declared a non-Muslim. She embraced Islam in 1998
because she wanted to marry an Iranian, but claimed she never truly
practiced the religion.
"I am very happy," Siti, a 39-year-old ethnic Chinese cake seller,
told The Associated Press by telephone. "I want to go to the temple to
pray and give thanks
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