| Adhaalath Party | |
|---|---|
| Founded | August, 2005 |
| Headquarters | Malé, Maldives |
| Ideology | Islam, Sunni |
| Website | |
| www.adhaalath.org.mv | |
The Adhaalath Party (Dhivehi: އަދާލަތު ޕާޓީ, meaning: Justice Party ) is a political party in the Maldives.
The Adhaalath Party was registered as a political party in August 2005, when political parties were allowed to operate for the first time following widespread protests for democracy. The party is believed to have taken their ideals from the Ikhwaanul Muslimeen or Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. In some local media news agencies in Maldives, the party is described as "an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood movement of Egypt."[1]
The party's first president is Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed.
After the party-backed candidate lost in the first multi-party presidential elections in 2008, the party joined a coalition of opposition parties in the runoff elections that ousted the former president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom from power.
The Adhaalath party members dominate a newly introduced Ministry of Islamic Affairs, headed by prominent party leader Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari.
The party failed to win any seats in the subsequent parliamentary elections. However, one party member, Abdul Muttalib, won a seat running as an independent candidate.
On 3 June 2011, the party held its second internal election to elect a president and vice president.Sheikh Imran Abdulla was elected as party president and Dr Mauroof Hussein was elected to serve as its vice president.Sheikh Imran was the only candidate that contested for the position of president and Dr Mauroof was the only person contested for the position of vice president.[2]
The Adhaalath party has been criticized by pro-secularists for standing up against secularism, which has been threatening Islam in the Maldives after the introduction of democracy.
The party has been repeatedly accused by leaders of both major parties of abusing religion for political purposes. Adhaalath Party leaders have accused former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom of not being a Sunni Muslim; however, the courts controlled by the dictatorship of Maumoon dismissed these charges as baseless.
In January 2009, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, for the first time, ordered restrictions on New Year DJs in the capital city of Male'.
The Minister of Islamic Affairs released a statement saying that religious discussion should be made only by religious scholars, prompting for the first time in Maldivian history the freedom for religious scholars to base their verdicts based on the quran and sunnah to make the pathway to establish laws which Islam has called upon.
In 2009, the Minister of State for Islamic Affairs, belonging to the Adhaalath party, proposed that 2 million[what currency?] from the annual Zakat (Islamic charity) be diverted to a TV channel devoted to religious programs. The party justified it as being funds for the "Cause of Allah" (Fi Sabeelillah). This idea was halted by the pro-secularist MDP and DRP. Other criticisms of the party include that the party has no known manifesto or economic or foreign policy.
Since 2010, the party has a special women's council and a youth council which will contribute to the future of the party. The party states that according to Islamic Shariah, women "may not" run for leadership roles in the case of higher ruling orders such as presidency yet this is an advice from Muhammad[3]. The Maldives constitution says that if any law contradicts the Islamic Shariah it cannot be implemented.
|
||||||||