Maldives doesn’t have extreme viewed people – Sheikh Shaheem

Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has said that Maldives doesn’t have extreme viewed people and if there are people like that, the country will not let it happen and the government too will not let these people do their work in the country.

Sheikh Shaheem expressed this during a meeting with the visiting US Ambassador to Maldives Ms.Michelle. Giving a statement of the meeting, the Ministry said people with different views are in the Maldivian democracy but the Maldivian Islamic scholars doesn’t support views of Al Qaeda. And Maldives a good example among the Islamic nations.

Minister Shaheem said that Maldives has a very fragile economy which depends on tourism.  Since it’s the main pillar of Maldives economy, Maldives will always provide a safety haven for tourists and will respect them. He also said Maldives will not let in extremism and terrorism in the country.

During the meeting, Sheikh Shaheem spoke about the movie insulting Prophet Mohamed. He urged the Ambassador, not to let  happen such a thing again  in the future.  Shaheem  said because of such things the cordial relationship between muslims and US will be strained. He also thanked the Ambassador for publishing a statement criticizing the movie.  US Ambassador too expressed concern over the film and criticized the incident. And thanked the Maldives government for not having any violence during the protests held to condemn the video.

During the meeting Minister Shaheem asked for scholarships for the Islamic scholars of Maldives to learn English language in the US.