Jamiyyath Salaf urges people to raise concerns regarding hate crime bill with parliamentarians

Jamiyyath Salaf has called on members of the general public to become aware of the “truth” behind the bill submitted by the government to criminalize acts of hate, raise their concerns with their parliamentary representatives.

As debate over the bill under review by the Parliament’s Judiciary Committee rages over social media platforms, the committee has announced it plans on completing work on the bill on July 1.

In a program broadcasted live on Facebook on Sunday, top Jamiyyath Salaf officials alleged the bill will lead to secularism in Maldives, and called on the people to raise their concerns regarding the bill with their parliamentary representatives.

Al-Sheikh Hassan Moosa Fikry said that while the hate crimes bill will put Maldives on the path to secularism, it will not provide any new rights.

He said that instead of providing people with fundamental rights, the bill will pave the path to casinos, nightclubs, tattoos and body piercings in Maldives.

“It isn’t fundamental rights that comes with secularism in this age.  The right of a man to become a woman. The right of a woman to become a man. When people fill out forms, or when they are asked to identify their gender, there are people in countries who, if they don’t identify as male or female, hide it or identify themselves as both male and female or as third gender,” he said.

 “If Maldives becomes secular, this will all come here. Casinos will come, nightclubs will come. Even now, efforts are being made [to introduce nightclubs] simply under a different label by claiming the youth need a club for entertainment in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public. Its as if the people of Maldives don’t already celebrate. So, calls are being made for this, and calls are being made for casinos. This is what will come with this independence.  This is not to provide Maldivian people with rights they have been denied.”

Fikry said the bill to amend the Penal Code will facilitate the promotion of sectors such as Sufism, and lead to acts which will violate the peace and unity within the community.

He said the bill will penalize people who stand firm in the path of Islam and speak out against those who challenge and desecrate Islamic faith.

“When some legal experts speak in favor of the bill, and when no action is taken against a person who is anti-religious or speak in clear violation of the religion, when a person who follows the religion or the person who loves the religion or the person who has knowledge about the religion is told to be speaking in violation of Holy Quran, when the religious scholar, the person who follows Sunnah is blamed, it creates strife within the community,” said Fikry.

Al-Sheikh Ahmed Sameer said that if the bill is enacted, even apostates can’t be called anti-religious. He said the true danger of the bill will become clear once such individuals create strife and doubt within the community.

“This is an effort orchestrated by people, a few people among us. This is being written. They are laying the legal framework to get this done. I say we must not allow this,” he said.

Sameer said that people who allege the Maldivian people are unable to grasp the bill’s meaning are in effect calling the Maldivian people ignorant.

“As people make different claims regarding the bill, Maldives is a country populated by people who are aware. The Maldivian people aren’t illiterate when it comes to Arabic and Dhivehi alphabet. We must understand the Maldivian youth know how to read and can understand plain Dhivehi,” he said.

“If they believe Maldivian people cannot read and understand six pages written by a parliamentarian, they are accusing the Maldivian people of ignorance.”

Sameer said that while he accepts Islamic scholars do not need to issue an opinion regarding each and every subject, believe asking for scholars not to speak out against the hate crimes bill are people who reject religion in any aspect of their life.

He said that if the bill passes, Maldives will become a country like Turkey, saddled with similar problems.

Both Fikry and Sameer called on Maldivian people to become more aware, and said calling people anti-religious is not always an attack against members of a specific political party.

“As parliamentary representatives are there to express the wishes of their constituents, we can have our voices heard by them. Join us in this,” said Fikry.

“Set aside party loyalty and politics. We need to look into this for our country, for our future generations, for the protection of our religion. See if this is really as they claim.”