Islamic law in the context of legal pluralism and the case of Malaysia

Legal Pluralism means the application of more than one law in a country. Although it entered the scientific field during the colonial period, it has much longer history in practice. In a plural legal system, law does not only consist of state law. Different rules of law can be applied in according to the characteristics of societies such as religion, morality, customs and traditions. In the Islamic states, since the Medina Treaty, there is a legal plural structure, as the rules of different legal systems have been allowed to be applied. Religious laws and courts of various religions and sects, especially Christians and Jews, continued to function, and private law disputes such as family and inheritance law could be resolved in their own courts. Malaysia is one of examples where the rules of Islamic law are applied today. In Malaysia, Sharia law is applied to private law cases of Muslims such as personel law and family law, while secular law is applied in other matters. The application of Islamic law, which started with the establishment of Islam in the region, gained a different dimension during the colonial period and took its current form with the independence constitution. Legal Pluralism in Malaysia basically consists of the application of these two legal systems together with the traditions of Malay society.