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The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has requested amendments to the
uniform code of the security services to authorise army and police
officers to grow facial hair.
A media official from the ministry confirmed that a letter was sent
to the President’s Office this week officially requesting the policy
change “to give permission to police and army officers to grow beards as
in other Islamic countries, since our constitution is based on Islamic
principles.”
Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed told local media
this week that a number of army and police officers had appealed with
the ministry for the change.
Shaheem argued that in spite of disagreement among scholars regarding
the issue, the Maldivian constitution provides the freedom to adhere to
Islamic codes.
He noted that other Islamic nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait and Pakistan permitted beards in the military while Sikhs in the
Indian army were allowed to wear beards.
Shaheem explained to local daily Haveeru this week that the Islamic
Ministry was not advocating in favour of making beards mandatory for the
uniformed bodies, but rather to allow those who requested permission to
wear beards.
“While our constitution offers that right, why has it been forbidden
by some in an Islamic country?” he asked, adding that he had complete
confidence that President Mohamed Waheed “would not turn his back on the
request.”
“Mocking the Sunnah“
Shaheem’s religious conservative Adhaalath Party, part of the ruling coalition, put out a statement
yesterday “condemning in the harshest terms” remarks made by two
unnamed scholars in a lecture to police officers last week that the
party contends “mocked” the Sunnah (way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Prophet Mohammed).
The press release did not identify the speakers by name. However, a
police media official confirmed that the session was conducted by Dr
Ibrahim Zakariyya Moosa and MP Afrashim Ali, a moderate scholar and
council member of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive
Party of Maldives (PPM).
According to police media, the pair spoke in detail about sources of
disputes among religious scholars, including on the issue of beards.
“In his speech, Dr Afrashim Ali mainly explained the importance of knowing how the Prophet’s Sunnah is ranked,” reads the police news item.
MP Afrashim argued that issues on which scholars have not been able
to reach a consensus could not be declared either compulsory or
heretical as “there cannot be a definite conclusion regarding such
problems.”
According to Adhaalath Party, one of the scholars told police
officers that there was no benefit to society from an individual wearing
a beard “even if, for example, it was established from the Prophet’s Sunnah.”
The remarks implied that growing a beard was not mandatory in the Sunnah and cast doubt on its purpose, the Adhaalath party statement argued.
“As some officers of the Maldives police institution wanted to wear
beards, he attempted in his talk to convince them that there was no need
to do something that was of no benefit to society,” the statement
reads.
Adhaalath Party noted that there was consensus among Islamic scholars that wearing beards was part of the Sunnah. Scholars however disagreed as to whether the practice was obligatory upon all Muslim males.
“This is as clear as the midday sun,” the statement claimed, citing authentic hadith purporting to show that the Prophet “ordered all Muslims to trim their moustaches and grow out their beards.”
In its statement, the Adhaalath Party’s scholars council also urged
all government departments and state institutions to “amend all
regulations in conflict with Islamic principles.”
Article 10 of the constitution states that the religion of the state
is Islam while “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted
in the Maldives.”
Religious NGO Jammiyathul Salaf meanwhile released a statement
yesterday signed by the group’s President Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed
Ibrahim, Sheikh Hassan Moosa Fikry and Sheikh Ahmed Sameer bin Ibrahim
insisting that beards were compulsory in Islam.
The Salaf statement further claimed that regulations prohibiting
beards in the military were unconstitutional as it was contrary to a
well-established tenet of Islam.
Source: Minivan News
Posted in: Politics / Religion
