Section 2. Interpretation. (ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW (STATE OF PENANG) ENACTMENT 1985

ENACTMENT NO. 2 OF 1985
ISLAMIC FAMILY LAW (STATE OF PENANG) ENACTMENT 1985

PART I - PRELIMINARY

Section 2. Interpretation.

(1) In this Enactment, unless the context otherwise requires–

“Administration Enactment” means the Administration of Muslim Law Enactment, 1959 [Penang Enactment No. 3 of 1959];

“anak dara” means a woman who has not had sexual intercourse, whether she has been married or not;

“appointed date” means the date appointed under section 1(2) for the coming into operation of this Enactment;

“Chief Registrar” means a Chief Registrar of Muslim Marriages, Divorces, and Ruju’ appointed under section 28;

“Court” means the Court of a Kathi or Kathi Besar, as the case may be, constituted under section 39 of the Administration Enactment;

“darar syarie” means harm, according to what is normally recognized by Islamic Law, affecting a wife in respect of religion, life, body, mind or property;

“fasakh” means the annulment of a marriage by reason of any circumstance permitted by the Islamic Law in accordance with section 52;

"fosterage" means the suckling of a baby up to sufficiency by a woman who is not its natural mother for at least five times during the first two years of its life;

“Hukum Syara” means the laws accepted by Syafie, Hanafi, Maliki, Hambali and Syiah (Zaidiyyah and Jaafariyah) sects;

"harta sepencarian" means property jointly acquired by husband and wife during the subsistence of marriage in accordance with the conditions stipulated by Hukum Syara”;

“illegitimate” in relation to a child means born out of wedlock but not as a result of syubhah intercourse;

“janda” means a woman who has been married and divorced after consummation;

“kariah”, in relation to a mosque, means the area, the boundaries of which are determined under section 109 of the Administration Enactment, in which the mosque is situated;

“Kitabiyah” means –

(a) a woman whose ancestors were from the

Bani Ya’qub

, or

(b) a Christian woman whose ancestors were Christians before the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad; or

“Majlis” means the Majlis Ugama Islam, Pulau Pinang dan Seberang Perai constituted under section 4 of the Administration Enactment;

“mas kahwin” means the obligatory marriage payment due under Hukum Syara’ by the husband to the wife at the time the marriage is solemnized, whether in the form of money actually paid or acknowledged as a debt with or without security, or in the form of something that, according to Hukum Syara’, is capable of being valued in terms of money;

“mut’ah” means a consolatory gift that is reasonable according to Hukum Syara’, given to a divorced wife;

“nasab” means descent based on lawful blood relationship;

“Registrar” means a Registrar of Muslim Marriages, Divorces and Ruju’ appointed under section 28, and includes a Deputy Registrar and an Assistant Registrar;

“resident” means permanently or ordinarily living in a particular area;

“ruju” means a return to the original living married state;

“Syar’iah Judge” means a Kathi appointed under section 38 of the Administration Enactment, and includes Kathi Besar;

“syubhah intercourse” means intercourse performed on erroneous impression that the marriage was valid or intercourse by mistake and includes any intercourse not punishable by Had in Islam;

“taliq” means a promise expressed by the husband after solemnization of marriage in accordance with Hukum Syara’ and the provisions of this Enactment;

“thayyib” means a woman who has had sexual intercourse;

“wali Raja” means a wali authorized by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in the case of the Federal Territory, the state of Malacca, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak or by the Ruler, in the case of any other States, to give away in marriage a woman who has no wali from nasab;

“widow” means a woman whose husband has died ;

“widower” means a man whose wife has died ;

(2) All words and expressions used in this Enactment and not herein defined but defined in the Interpretation Act 1967 [23/67] shall have the meaning thereby assigned to them respectively by the Enactment.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt as to the identity or interpretation of the words and expressions used in this Enactment that are listed in the Schedule, reference may be made to the Arabic script form for those words and expressions shown against them therein.

(4) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may from time to time amend, delete from or add to the Schedule.