Authorised persons can give religious lectures at mosques: Shaheem

Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has said that any person who is legally authorised to give religious lectures in Maldives can do so at any mosque.

Shaheem said today that authorised persons do not need to attain permission from Councils to give religious lectures, and that it is enough if the councils are informed by the organisers of the lectures.

He further said that since September last year, as agreed, City Councils were making decisions regarding mosques. He noted that they were assigned the task to not allow persons without the authorisation to deliver religious speeches.

“The agreement made between City Councils and Islamic Ministry indicates that the Councils should stop any unauthorised person from delivering religious speeches,” he said.

Shaheem said that assigning another party to oversee the mandate of the Ministry was not acceptable, and that this policy needs to be revised.

A press release issued by City Council yesterday says that any person who wishes to give religious speeches at mosques should submit an application form to City Council, to obtain authorisation. They also noted that it had been observed that some parties ignore this regulation.

The statement further says that this could lead to loss of peace and order in society, and that the Council had requested from the Police to take the necessary action against those who fail to comply with this regulation.

Unrest was caused while Ilyas was giving a speech at Furgan Mosque, and the situation had to be controlled by the Police.

Moreover, Addu City Council declined Ilyas’s request to deliver s speech in a mosque in Addu, indicating that it would be demeaning to the mosque to allow him to do so.