Let's say my father hypothetically died.

My dear father passed away in 1996, being a traditionalist and always an optimist through his battle with cancer, he never made a will. After his death, we underwent a fair amount of paperwork and legal wrangle to have his properties transfered to my mother. To a certain extent, we may be lucky, as being a Government pensioner, and the fact that the home was financed via a Government loan, my mother was named in most Pension documentations and also Insurance papers. So the transfer was relatively easy and maybe Government officials were sympathetic to a fellow Civil servant.


In Malaysia, we have a peculiar situation. I admit I am not a legal expert, but this is what I gather from my readings and research. If a Muslim dies without leaving a will and the next-of-kins are not Muslim. The property cannot be transfered to the next-of-kins. No matter how much paperwork nor litigation the wife and sons can bring forth. These non-Muslims are 'not in the system', almost persona-non-grata, and hence assets cannot be transfered to a non-existent individual. Assets goes/gets reverted to the Islamic authorities who will act as caretaker for the property.

Now picture this, let's say a rich person dies. Leaves no will. Islamic authorities swoop in to declare and insist that he/she was a Muslim. Buries him as a Muslim.

Dead man tell no tale, and the state has no onus to prove that conversion to Islam has occured, no paperwork need to be presented, merely to 'insist'.

What's stopping the authorities from seizing the assets and property, and in a country where public accountability is almost zero, and one merely needs to cry 'In the name of Islam' and all civil decorum and procedures are stopped dead in its tracks. What's stopping the Islamic authorities from turning this into a profitable business venture ?

Think.