The office of the state muftis should be placed directly under the authority of the sultans in order to strengthen their position and independence, said a mufti today.

Without elaborating, Johor state mufti Nooh Gadot said this would also prevent muftis from being manipulated by parties and individual interests.

"Right now, muftis are indirectly under the state sultans already in the sense that they are appointed with their approval.

"However, the muftis are still only part of the states' department of Islamic affairs," he added when met at the sidelines of the two-day Asean Regional Seminar on Fatwa Management in Kuala Lumpur.

Nooh's statements contrast with the increasing volume of recent calls urging the sultans to roll back and re-examine the power of muftis to issue fatwas (decrees) that, once gazetted by the state legislature, are legally binding on Muslims.

In early April, a group of 220 'concerned citizens' endorsed a letter sent to the Council of Rulers requesting a review of Syariah enactments.

The letter highlighted provisions that gave muftis absolute power and rendered them an elite law-making body without recourse or accountability.

Important role

In his paper presented earlier, Nooh summarised the role of and processes involved in issuing fatwa at the state level.

He also noted that the position, recognition and special authority of muftis had been raised by the state governments of Perak and Negeri Sembilan to that of state executive councillors.

"This development may also be followed by other states," he said.

"Ijtihad (deductive reasoning) is of the utmost relevance and importance to every mufti and fatwa committee/Syariah committee in playing their role and fulfilling their duties in this new millennium which is full of great and serious challenges.

"These challenges include the rain of questions pertaining to religious rituals, finance, culture, among other issues which need to answers and solutions that prudent while being based on evidences.

"This shows that the mufti is playing a very serious role in this day and age. He plays the primary role in strengthening Muslims and Islam as well as bettering their image. Their failure is the failure and loss to Islam," read the paper.

The seminar was organised by various Federal Territories religious bodies, the World Fatwa Management and Research Institute and the Islamic University College of Malaysia.

It was attended by about 200 participants from Malaysia as well as the Middle East and Southeast Asia.