Pelantikan Mufti Wanita di Malaysia: Analisis Pandangan Jabatan Mufti

The appointment of a mufti amongst the women is a new issue to be discussed. Throughout the history of the institution of fatwa in Malaysia, woman has never been appointed as mufti even though there is no prohibition either in Islamic law and the laws of Malaysia which states that women cannot be appointed as mufti. This article aims to seek the views of fatwa members on the appointment of female mufti. This study is a form of qualitative study by conducting focus group interviews method on 4 persons from fatwa members namely a mufti, two deputy muftis and an officer in mufti department. Their views on the appointment of female mufti in Malaysia also obtained in form of written comments. The results from the analysis of fatwa members’ views found that women can become a mufti but the job scopes of a mufti should be defined further and adapted to the feasibility of a woman from the point of Islamic law. The appointment of female mufti also need to consider ‘uruf or custom in Malaysia. Thus, the authors concluded that a model of female mufti’s job scopes should be construct with modification from existing mufti’s jobscope if woman be appointed as a mufti in the future. Keywords: Mufti, female, analysis, department of mufti. Abstrak Pelantikan mufti daripada kalangan wanita merupakan satu isu yang baru. Sepanjang sejarah institusi fatwa di Malaysia, belum pernah wanita dilantik menjadi mufti sedangkan tiada larangan yang jelas sama ada dalam hukum syarak dan undang-undang Malaysia yang menyatakan bahawa wanita tidak boleh dilantik sebagai mufti. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa pandangan beberapa jabatan mufti berkenaan pelantikan mufti di Malaysia daripada kalangan wanita. Kajian ini merupakan kajian berbentuk kualitatif dengan melaksanakan kaedah temubual secara kumpulan fokus terhadap 4 orang utama di jabatan mufti iaitu seorang mufti, dua orang timbalan mufti dan seorang pegawai di jabatan mufti. Pandangan mereka terhadap terhadap isu pelantikan mufti wanita di Malaysia juga diperolehi secara bertulis. Hasil analisis pandangan pakar melalui temubual dan secara bertulis mendapati bahawa wanita boleh menjadi mufti namun bidang tugas seorang mufti perlu didefinisikan dengan lebih lanjut dan disesuaikan dengan kelayakan seorang wanita dari sudut syarak. Pelantikan mufti wanita juga perlu mengambil kira uruf dan adat di Malaysia. Justeru, penulis membuat kesimpulan bahawa satu model bidang kuasa mufti wanita perlu dibina dengan pengubahsuaian bidang kuasa mufti yang sedia ada sekiranya wanita dilantik menjadi mufti pada masa akan datang. Kata kunci: Mufti, wanita, analisis, jabatan, mufti.