Minister requests a duration of one month before taking the mosques under the ministry

Islamic Minister, Dr. Ahmed Ziyad Baagir has made a request at the Committee for Independent Institutes of the Parliament to give a duration of one month to bring all the mosques under the Islamic Ministry as per the Law of Religious Unity.

Speaking at the meeting of the Committee today, Minister Ziyad said that starting from the 1 December, the Finance Ministry would be consulted and all the mosques in the Maldives would be brought under the Islamic Ministry.

“In reality, once the law (of Religious Unity) came and when I took over the Ministry, a lot of work was done to bring the mosques under the Islamic Ministry. Back then we met with Civil Service (Commission) and the LGA (Local Government Authority). Those meetings went very positive. But as noted before, since there are difficulties, we haven’t been able to resolve them.” Minister Ziyad said.

The Minister said that the biggest difficulty is the salary issues.

Speaking at the Committee meeting today, the CEO of LGA, Dr. Ahmed Shukuree said that although the Law of Religious Unity has come into effect, it has not been implemented due to a “practical” issue. He said that any changes can be made to a law but when the changes were made to the Law of Religious Unity, it was not considered.

“This is something that has been under the island offices for ages. But there is a responsible institute to how they are run. Although the Local Governance law has charged the Councils to look after the mosques, the Islamic Ministry is still the regulatory body you know.” Dr. Ahmed Shukuree said.

The officials from the Islamic Ministry and the LGA at the meeting today said that if officials from the Finance Ministry were brought to the meeting, a solution would’ve been found to the problem of moving the mosques under the Islamic Ministry.

Head of the Committee, the MP for the Vilufushi constituency, Riyaz Rasheed said that it is something that needs to be implemented in a specific time period according to the law.

“We believe that one month, we believe is too long a duration. We can guarantee solutions to the problems from the Finance. So a problem won’t be inside Finance. We can give that guarantee.” MP Riyaz Rasheed said.