Descendants of Arab family lose bid to oust Religious Council as trustee in Singapore

In Singapore, in a case which is reminiscent of the colonial period, two members of the Alsagoff family, Syed Abbas and Syed Omar Alsagoff, have lost their bid to oust MUIS (Islamic Religious Council) as the trustee of a Muslim trust (wakaf or waqf) worth millions. The trust, known as the Raja Siti trust, was responsible for building the Hajjah Fatimah mosque near Arab street and a madrasah. It also includes several shophouses in North Bridge Road. These assets were held for community benefit. It was named after the wife of Syed Ahmad Alsagoff. She created the trust of out of her own estate in November 1883.
Syed Omar and Syed Abbas Alsagoff were not appointed as beneficiaries or trustees which makes their case untenable. Halfway through the trial, the plaintiffs sought to be appointed mutawallis or co-managers or the trust under the Trustees Act, but the judge explained that the Act does not empower courts to appoint mutawallis to a Muslim wakaf that is governed by the Administration of Muslims Law Act (AMLA).
(Source: Straits Times, 25th December 2009)

A law report of the case above here.

Muslim Inheritance Law in S’pore

Useful link: Muslim Inheritance Law in Singapore

AMLA (Singapore)

Kamaludeen M. Nasir, Alexius A. Pereira and Bryan S. Turner quote a useful paragraph on the administration of Islamic law within the Singapore legal system, lifted from the Singapore Academy of Law website in their book which was recently published – Muslims in Singapore: Piety, politics and policies (p. 42). I’m putting it here for easy reference.

Muslim Law (in Personal Legal Matters)

1.3.15    Apart from the Common Law and Equity, the Syariah Court also administers Muslim law in specific personal legal matters governing marriages, divorces, the nullity of marriages and judicial separations under the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA) (Cap 3, 1999 Rev Ed) in respect of Muslims or parties married under Muslim law (though the High Court has concurrent jurisdiction with the Syariah Court on specific matters relating to maintenance, custody and division of property). Significantly, with respect to issues of inheritance and succession, the AMLA expressly accepts particular Islamic texts as proof of Muslim law.