By law, a non-Muslim person in Malaysia can only convert to Islam if they are of sound mind and are above the age of 18. Hence, non-Muslims below the age of 18 can only convert with the permission of their parents.
With that being said, why would a preacher then encourage underage kids to break the law by secretly converting without their parent’s knowledge?
Malaysian celebrity preacher, Ustaz Firdaus Wong, took to his TikTok account to encourage non-Muslims under the age of 18 to secretly convert to and practice Islam, and to only register themselves when they turn 18.
This comes after an Ustaz had asked him for a solution to help non-Muslim Form 3 and Form 4 students who have shared their interest in converting to Islam.
Firdaus emphasised that the students will not be able to convert, by law, until they are exactly 18 years old.
Though, his solution to this is to get teachers to get the non-Muslim students to perform the ‘Syahada’ first and teach them about Islam. He also urged these non-Muslim students to not record and post any of the processes, and that they can register their conversion with the authorities when they turn 18.
Syahada is the declaration of faith in the Islamic God, Allah, and His messenger, the Prophet Muhammad.
On top of that, the preacher decided to teach the various ways these kids could pray at home without having to be caught by their families.
This, in turn, led to outrage by non-Muslim parents, NGOs and politicians.
Suthan M from the Malaysian Indian People’s Party under Perikatan Nasional (PN) took to his TikTok page to condemn the preacher’s actions and to call for him to be banned from entering any schools.
“Ustaz Firdaus Wong, you are definitely public enemy number 1 when it comes to multiracial harmony in Malaysia. How can non-Muslim parents keep quiet when you’re (conducting a) black ops attack on our innocent underaged children in public schools? You should know better as an Islamic scholar to keep your hands off our underaged kids,”
“I strongly urge YB Fadhlina, the Minister of Education to ban this individual from all national school grounds immediately or we will protest at the Ministry of Education soon. I respectfully order the Ustaz to not seek cheap publicity by provoking the peaceful racial harmony in Malaysia,” he wrote.
You can check out both the preacher’s and the politician’s videos here:
Watch on TikTok
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
