FT Mufti: Saiful's oath is valid

FT Mufti: Saiful's oath is valid

By Shannon Teoh KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25' Saiful Bukhari Azlan's oath is valid according to Federal Territory Mufti Datuk Wan Zahidi Wan Teh. "An oath is valid as long as he swears in the name of Allah," he told reporters in his office today. He said this was so as there were two kinds of oaths one in the course of proceedings in a Syariah court and another outside of a trial.

He said that Saiful's oath had no relation to the one taken in a Syariah court but "it is up to the court if they want to use it as evidence." According to Wan Zahidi, Islamic scripture does not require issues such as time, place, the swearing on a Quran or the subject matter of the oath as conditions for taking an oath that is not part of Syariah proceedings. He also expressed his doubts over the credibility of Ramlang Porigi, the imam who had overseen Saiful's oath and had yesterday said that the oath was not valid. Wan Zahidi said it required a lot of training to be able to read Islamic scriptures and said that he was unsure about Ramlang's qualifications.