Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria, who is a member of the Malaysian Mufti Council, said he will study the appeal letter sent by a group of 22 Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees two weeks ago urging the council to declare the controversial law as haram (prohibited).

Contacted yesterday, he said he has not seen the 10-page Aug 5 letter, but "since they have sent the letter to me, I will certainly look at it."

He stressed that the influential Malaysian Mufti Council has yet to meet to discuss the matter.

However, Harussani added that he had previously touched on the subject raised by the ISA detainees at a ceramah in Kamunting, Perak, where the detainees are held.

"I have been quizzed on this by the ISA detainees in Kamunting and I explained to them my views," he said, stressing that he was not speaking on behalf of the council.

"I told them that detention without trial or if a person is held without any charge of an offence, then it is haram.

"I also told them that the government may have information that may have led it to believe that the detainees are somehow involved with groups or in activities perceived as a threat to the country."

Handsome man banished

Citing the days of Caliph Omar's rule, Harussani said the leader banished a handsome young man to prevent social problems.

He said the leader did this after realising that more and more women were attracted to the man.

"He had the man's head shaved bald but that only enhanced his good looks. So, he banished the man from the land," he said.

"When the young man told the caliph that he had not asked to be handsome and what wrong he had done to deserve this, the latter told him that it was to avoid slandering the scores of women who were being drawn to him."

In such cases, he said, laws may not be invoked.

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that 22 ISA detainees want Harussani to declare that the ISA and the detention rules in Kamunting as going against the Islamic principles, and therefore haram.

The detainees include alleged members of the militant group Jemaah Islamiah, and Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia that is said to be linked to the former.

Jemaah Islamiah, reportedly the regional wing of the al-Qaeda, has been blamed for the Bali bombings in October 2002, which claimed the lives of 202 people.

The letter also contained details of the detainees' ordeals while in detention, including a list of mistreatment they had been subjected to in the Kamunting detention camp.

Similar calls have also been made by several Muslim intellectuals.