President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has appointed three members to the Supreme Council of Fatwa.
Supreme Council of Fatwa was established on April 25, 2016. The five-member council consists of three members appointed by the President, a member appointed by the President from among the academic staff of the Maldives National University (MNU) or Islamic University of Maldives. However, four members of the council have been vacant for the past two years due to the expiry of their terms. There is only one member in the parliament so far. It is one of the 3 members appointed by the President.
The President’s Office stated the President has appointed three of the four vacancies in the Supreme Council of Fatwa. They are, Dr. Abdul Sattar Abdul Rahman, Dr. Ibrahim Zakariyya Moosa and Sheikh Ilyas Hussain. The council was established to replace the Fiqh Academy run under Ministry of Islamic Affairs in 2016, during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayyom’s administration by the second amendment to the Religious Unity Act.