KUALA LUMPUR: The National Registration Department (NRD)'s current system of registering a Muslim child born out of wedlock will continue.

A Muslim child conceived out of wedlock will not be allowed to take his or her father's surname, said NRD director-general Datuk Yazid Ramli (pix).

He said the NRD had filed an appeal to the Federal Court after the Court of Appeal ruled that a Muslim child who was born out of wedlock has the right the carry the father's name.

He said any changes to the current NRD procedure of registering the births of Muslim children conceived out of wedlock will only be considered after the Federal Court's ruling.

"As such, the NRD's current system of registering a Muslim child born out of wedlock will continue.

"Any amendments towards our current method will only be considered after a decision by the Federal Court has been made," he said in a statement on Friday.

Yazid also maintained that the current NRD's procedure of registering the births of illegitimate Muslim children was in line with the National Fatwa Council's decision.

"NRD would like to clarify the decision by the Court of Appeal which stated that a Muslim child who is conceived out of wedlock can take his or her father's surname.

"Prior to this, the High Court has ruled that under Islamic law, children born less than six months after their parents' marriage were not allowed to take their fathers' surnames.

"What NRD has been doing so far is in accordance with the decision by the National Fatwa Council," he added.

In a written judgement on July 25, the appellate court ruled that the NRD director-general was not bound by religious edict when deciding on the surname of a Muslim child conceived out of wedlock.

Panel chairman Justice Abdul Rahman Sebli said the director-general had acted irrationally in refusing to alter a child's surname from Abdullah on grounds that the fatwa did not allow it.

This follows after the parents in that case, both Muslims, were legally married in 2009 and had the child, born in April the following year, less than six months from the date of their marriage.