KUALA LUMPUR - Women’s rights group Sisters in Islam (SIS) has officially dropped the word Islam from its public name, following the advice of the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
The group will now go by its registered name, SIS Forum (Malaysia).
The decision was finalised during an extraordinary general meeting on July 11, as confirmed by Executive Director Rozana Isa.
“Although we have removed the word Islam from our name, we remain steadfast in our commitment to promoting gender equality and justice in Islamic family laws.
“In the end, what matters most is our work for Muslim women and Malaysians as a whole,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
Rozana expressed hope that the move would end the longstanding debate surrounding the group’s name and open the door for wider collaboration.
“Unfortunately, our work has often been misinterpreted by certain parties. We are not challenging Islam but fighting for laws that should protect women within the family institution,” she explained.
This comes after Sultan Sharafuddin voiced his disappointment over a Federal Court decision which stated that the July 31, 2014 fatwa did not apply to SIS Forum (Malaysia) because it is a corporate entity, not an individual.
In light of the court ruling, the Sultan urged the organisation to stop using the name Sisters in Islam in any form of publication or on any platform linked to the group.
The Sultan emphasised that using the word Islam in SIS Forum (Malaysia)’s name and materials could cause confusion among the Muslim community.