Freedom of religion in Maldives

The 2008 Constitution of Maldives designates Sunni Islam as the state religion. Only Sunni Muslims are allowed to hold citizenship in the country and citizens may practice Sunni Islam only. Non-Muslim citizens of other nations can practice their faith only in private and are barred from evangelizing or propagating their faith. All residents are required to teach their children the Muslim faith. The president, ministers, parliamentarians, and chiefs of the atolls are required to be Sunni Muslims. Government regulations are based on Islamic law. Only certified Muslim scholars can give fatawa.^[1]

As of 2021^[update], freedom of religion remained significantly restricted. Individual societal abuses and discrimination based on religious beliefs or practices have been reported. According to many officials and interlocutors, most citizens regarded Islam as one of their society's most distinctive characteristics and believed that having it established as the state religion promotes harmony and national identity.^[2] Since 2014, apostasy from Islam has been punishable by death.

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Which is the most persecuted religious group in the world today? The answer in terms of sheer numbers and sheer horror might surprise you. It’s Christians, specifically Christians living in Muslim-majority countries, countries where Christians often preceded Muslims by centuries. I’m not talking about “War on Christmas” type harassment; I’m talking about “know your place or we’re going to kill you” persecution. Astonishingly, the Western mainstream media barely acknowledge what is happening. Let’s look closer at this issue. It tells us a lot about the world we’re living in. One hundred years ago, 20% of North Africa and the Middle East, the birthplace of Christianity, was Christian. Today, Christians make up 4% of the population. Much of that decline has occurred in the last decade. In essence Muslims are rendering North Africa and the Middle East free of Christians. Take Egypt, for example, my ancestral homeland. In just the past two years, tens of thousands of Christian Copts have left Egypt. And many others want to leave, but they simply cannot afford to. Why they want to leave is no mystery. On New Year’s Day 2011, the Two Saints Church in Alexandria was bombed, leaving 23 Copts dead and 97 injured. In recent years dozens of Coptic churches have been attacked, many burned to the ground. In August 2013 alone, the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters attacked and destroyed some 80 churches. Unfortunately, Egypt is more the rule than the exception. Hundreds of Nigerian churches have been destroyed in recent years, with especially deadly attacks reserved for Christmas and Easter church services, leaving dozens dead or mutilated. Churches have been bombed or burned in Iraq, Syria, and just about every place in the Middle East where churches still exist except Israel. Christian businesses have been torched, Christian girls have been kidnapped, sold as child brides or slaves, and had acid thrown in their faces for not being veiled. Anyone born a Muslim who converts to Christianity faces jail and possibly execution. The list of fresh atrocities by Muslims against Christians grows longer almost every day. Even in Muslim countries often portrayed as “moderate” -- Morocco, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan -- Christian minorities are under legal pressure not to build churches or evangelize. The Christians in these Muslim countries are often identical to their co-citizens in race, ethnicity, national identity, culture, and language; there is no political dispute between the Christians and Muslims, no land dispute. Vastly outnumbered and politically marginalized, these Christians simply wish to worship in peace. Instead they are hounded and attacked. So, then, why is this happening? And why is the media making so little mention of it? The first question is easy to answer. Christians are being persecuted in Muslim countries because they’re Christians, or as the Quran puts it, “infidels,” that is, non-Muslims, who are regarded by many fundamentalist Muslims as inferior. As a fundamentalist interpretation of the holy books of Islam has grown in the last fifty or so years, Christians have suffered. And in recent years, they have suffered terribly. I document this in my book, Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians. If this were happening to any other group besides Christians, it would be the human rights tragedy of our time. There would be loud worldwide calls for action. But the silence in the mainstream Western media is, as they say, almost deafening. Why? Because Muslim persecution of Christians throws a wrench in the media’s narrative that “Muslim violence is a product of Muslim grievance.” That grievance is, first and foremost, portrayed as the sin of European colonialism and alleged American imperialism. In the Muslim world’s mind, those two sins are personified by the Jewish State of Israel, a nation the Muslim world believes was forced upon it by the colonial powers of Europe following World War II and is currently supported by the United States. Much of the Western world and the Western media have largely bought at least some of this narrative. Here’s how it works: Because Israel, with the backing of the United States, is stronger than its Muslim neighbors, the media, while not defending Islamic terrorism, often portray terror against Israel, America, and even Europe as the actions of understandably angry “underdogs” fighting for what they deem “justice.” But what happens to this media narrative when Islamic terror is directed against a minority weaker than them -- in this case, the millions of indigenous Christians throughout the Islamic world? The answer is that, rather than abandon this narrative, the media just don’t report Muslim persecution of Christians except for the most sensational cases. That’s why you probably don’t know that there are barely any Christians living in Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, nations where Christianity once thrived. Or, that this is happening in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and even Lebanon. So, yes, Christians are indeed the most persecuted religious group in the world today. But reporting it would violate the media’s narrative of Christians as persecutors and Muslims as victims. I’m Raymond Ibrahim, author of the Al-Qaeda Reader, for Prager University.

Religions demography

The country has an area of 500 square miles (1,300 km²) distributed across 1,200 coral atolls and islands, with a population of around 450,000.

The population is a distinct ethnic group with historical roots in South Indian, Sinhalese, and Arab communities ^{[citation needed]}. The vast majority of the Muslim population practices Sunni Islam.

Non-Muslim foreigners, including more than 500,000 tourists who visit annually (predominantly Europeans and Chinese) and approximately 54,000 foreign workers (mainly Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Indians, and Bangladeshis), are in general allowed to practice their religions only in private. Although Muslim tourists and Muslim foreign workers are allowed to attend local mosque services, in the past most practice Islam in private or at mosques located at the resorts where they work and live.^[3]

The government states that the country is 100% Muslim.^[4] Independent figures in 2020 showed that the country is 98.69% Muslim, 0.65% Buddhist, 0.29% Christian and 0.29% Hindu; there is also a small number of Baha'is and agnostics.^[5]

Status of religious freedom

Legal and policy framework

Freedom of religion is significantly restricted. The constitution designates Islam as the state religion and requires citizens to be Muslim;^[4] it also stipulates that the President must be Sunni Muslim.

The constitution specifies that judges must use sharia law in deciding matters not otherwise addressed; sharia is not considered applicable to non-Muslims.^[4]

Foreigners were not allowed to import any items deemed "contrary to Islam," including alcohol, pork products, or idols for worship. Alcoholic beverages were available to tourists on resort islands, but it remains against the law to offer alcohol to a local citizen.^[4]

Men who wish to act as imams must sit for public exams. Certified imams must use government-approved sermons in Friday services.^[4]

Islam is a compulsory subject for all primary and secondary school students.^[4]

Religious conversions and persecution of individuals

In 2010, Ismail Mohamed Didi, a Maldivian atheist who was being investigated for his "lack of belief" and had sought asylum in Britain, allegedly committed suicide.^[6]^[7]

On 29 May 2010, Mohamed Nazim, a student of philosophy from a devout Muslim family, was at a public meeting in the Maldives discussing the subject of religion. He declared at the meeting that his own comparative studies on philosophy had meant he could not accept Islam, and declared himself to be an atheist. He was immediately arrested, under the pretext of saving him from being attacked for his beliefs by others at the meeting.^[8] After three days of intense counseling, he publicly converted back to Islam.^[9] Even so, the Maldivian Police submitted his case to their public prosecutors office as of 29 August 2010.^[10]

Death penalty for apostasy from Islam (along with certain other offenses) was incorporated into Maldivian law on 27 April 2014 for any person aged above 7 years.^[11]

Societal abuses and discrimination

According to the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief's February 2007 report, "members of local congregations on some of the islands do not allow foreign manual laborers to attend the mosque." The government denied these allegations.

When the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief visited the Maldives' only prison, she found non-Muslim prisoners "unable to perform their prayers due to the objections of their Maldivian cellmates." There were no accommodations made for Hindu prisoners with dietary restrictions.

The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief also reported on the issue of women wearing headscarves. She received reports that women were being pressured to cover by relatives, other citizens, self-proclaimed preachers, or newly formed political parties. Furthermore, she was told that women began to cover after state-owned media reported that the 2004 tsunami was the "result of Maldivians failing to live in accordance with Islam." There was one report of a female student who was excluded from school for wearing a headscarf.

On Human Rights Day, 10 December 2011, protesters led by Ismail Khilath Rasheed, calling themselves ‘Silent Solidarity’, gathered at the Artificial Beach to protest religious intolerance in the Maldives. They were attacked and threatened.^[12]

The Centre for Civil and Political rights, based in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Human Rights Committee are working to establish new guidelines with the Maldivian government on human rights. The Committee has welcomed the following legislative and institutional measures taken by the State: The removal by the Parliament, in 2008, of the gender bar on running for presidency; the enactment of the Anti-Domestic Violence Act, in April 2012. The July 27, 2012, Human Rights Committee report listed more recommendations and principal matters of concern and expressed hope that the Maldivan State Party would continue on its path for equal rights, freedom of religion, and decriminalization of same-sex relationships.^[13]^{[better source needed]}

In 2023, the country was scored zero out of 4 for religious freedom;^[14] it was also noted that non-Muslim foreigners are only permitted to observe their religions privately.

According to Open Doors, the country was rated as the 15th worst place in the world to be a Christian.^[15]

References

^ "Maldives" (PDF).
^ "2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Maldives". 2022.
^ "Maldives". 14 September 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "US State Dept 2022 report - Maldives". 9 August 2023.
^ World Religion Database at the ARDA website, retrieved 2023-08-08
^ "Maldives atheist who felt persecuted 'hangs himself'". BBC News. 15 July 2010.
^ "Atheist Kills Himself to Escape "100 percent Muslim" Nation | International Humanist and Ethical Union". Archived from the original on 2010-07-25. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
^ "Haveeru Online - Maldivian renounces Islam, gets attacked by Zakir Naik audience". Archived from the original on 2011-08-10. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
^ "Haveeru Online - Maldivian who renounced Islam reverts". Archived from the original on 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
^ "Haveeru Online - Police file case against Nazim, despite reversion". Archived from the original on 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
^ "Maldives enacts regulation for death penalty". Al Jazeera English. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
^ "Protesters calling for religious tolerance attacked with stones, threatened with death". Minivan News. 2011-12-10. Archived from the original on 2012-01-05. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
^ http://thebesttropicalvacationspots.com/human-rights-commitee-report-the-maldives-7272012/
^ Freedom House website, retrieved 2023-08-08
^ Open Doors website, retrieved 2023-08-08

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