Breach Of Betrothal In Malaysia: A Comparative Study Between Syariah And Civil Law

Engagement events in Malaysia are celebrated with expensive formal ceremonies accompanied by the giving of valuable and luxurious gifts. Therefore, if the engagement is canceled from a cost aspect, the engagement gift needs to be returned due to the feeling of humiliation and shame that must be borne by the party concerned. This situation causes people to need to look at Malaysian family law. This research aims to explain the concept of breach of engagement from a sharia and legal perspective. This article will analyze this problem from a sharia perspective as well as evaluate the laws in Malaysia between sharia and civil law related to this matter and support it with legal cases. Qualitative methodology was used to analyze data including books, articles, websites, and the internet. This research also conducted interviews with a lawyer and 2 academics. The results of the discussion showed clear differences between Islamic and non-Islamic family laws in addressing this issue. In practice, the Law or Application of Islamic Family Law only applies to Muslims who are discussed in Sharia courts, while non-Muslims are handled based on the Contract Act of 1950 in Civil courts regarding engagements in Malaysia. This research recommends that solving the problem of broken promises to marry in Malaysia should look at Malaysian family law so that Malaysian society can create a sense of harmony among themselves and Malaysian laws are able to reduce cases of broken promises to marry in society.