Religious Unit Regulations gazetted after 16 months

The Religious Unity Regulations has been published in the government’s gazette yesterday.

The Religious Unity Regulations which was produced by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs with the help of the Attorney General’s Office and Maldives Police Service was first sent to the President’s Office on 6 May 2010. And on the same day, the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Majeed Abdul Baari told the media that he hopes that the regulations will be published in the government’s gazette within 10 months. However, it was gazette yesterday, after 1 year and 4 months and 12 days later.

In view of the news of the differences of the Islamic Affairs and the President’s Office regarding the regulations, State Minister Hussein Rasheed Ahmed said that the Islamic Affairs and the President’s Office are two government institutions and both have held discussions over the regulations.

Miadhu Daily understands that the earlier copy of the regulations sent to the President’s Office contained a large number of pages whereas the regulations gazette yesterday contained only 6 pages. In view of this, the Minister of Islamic Affairs said that some administrative regulations were omitted from the regulations.

According to the new regulations, only scholars with a special permit of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs can only give religious sermons and lectures in the country. And any speech against gender discrimination and racial discrimination in any of the religious lectures are considered to be violations of the regulations.