From Daniel Pipes's blog:
The reality of non-Muslim life in country where Islamic law to any extent prevails can be grim. This entry provides an occasional glimpse into the problems that can arise.
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Claiming a corpse in Malaysia: M Moorthy, 36, was a national hero in Malaysia due to his mountaineering exploits, especially his being a member of his country's first expedition to the top of Mount Everest in May 1997. He was also a Hindu, the child of Hindu parents, married to a Hindu wife, who as recently as two months ago was interviewed on television about his preparations for the Hindu festival of Diwali. But he was paralyzed from the waist down due to a 1998 injury and a fall from his wheelchair on Nov. 11 led to his death on Nov. 20. His family, naturally, wanted to give him a Hindu funeral.
At that point, however, an Islamic court sided with Moorthy's former colleagues in the Malaysian Armed Forces who claimed that he had converted to Islam; the court would not even permit the family, non-Muslims, to appear before it to dispute the matter. A dreadful scene then occurred at the mortuary as family members jostled with state Islamic officials and former soldiers for the body. The family lost and applied to the country's Appellate and Special Powers High Court, which ruled that it could not override the Islamic courts in such a matter. Moorthy in the end was buried as a Muslim.
The president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism, Rev. Sri K. Dhammananda said the council was "very disturbed" by what happened and called this development "a crisis for non-Muslims because they can seek no legal remedy." He called for the repeal of a subsection of the Federal Constitution "to make it clear that the Syariah [Shari‘a] Court has no jurisdiction to hear matters involving non-Muslims." (December 29, 2005)
Levying the jizya tax in the Palestinian Authority: Jizya is a tax specified in the Koran (9:29) to be paid by non-Muslim males living in dar al-Islam, that is, under Muslim political rule. In theory, it is what non-Muslims pay extra for the privilege of being protected by the Muslim state, in whose military they may not serve. In fact, beyond the often penurious sums involved, it has a humiliating quality to it, reminding the kafirs that they are second-class subjects for refusing the Islamic truth. The tax was regularly collected through Islamic history, fading out only in the nineteenth century.
But Islamists, in keeping with other retrograde ideas, like reviving slavery, would like to re-impose the jizya. Hamas has long wanted non-Muslims in "Palestine" to pay it and as it approaches the corridors of power, this abstract wish takes on new vitality and importance. "We in Hamas intend to implement this tax someday," says a Bethlehem city council member, Hassan El-Masalmeh. "We say it openly—we welcome everyone to Palestine but only if they agree to live under our rules." (December 23, 2005)