Religious freedom conditions in Malaysia are poor amid a troubling rise in religious polarization and restrictions. The country’s dual legal system of Shari’a and civil courts privilege Islamic law, according to the Shaf’i school of Sunni jurisprudence. The legal system further limits dissenting interpretations of its principles through fatwas, legal action, and intrusive monitoring. The state discriminates against Muslim groups that it views as representing “deviant” versions of Islam. 

Although President Bashar al-Assad’s government fell in December 2024, ending that regime’s years of religious freedom and broader human rights violations, Syria’s diverse religious communities face other threats. Both the interim authorities in Damascus—led by U.S.-designated terrorists and longstanding FoRB violator Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—and Turkish-backed Islamist militias in the north and east pose threats to FoRB and to the future stability of the country.