MANAMA: The Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs, confirmed that the Islamic Religion is the identity of the Kingdom of Bahrain as an Arab Gulf country. Further, the Ministry confirmed that any attempts to jeopardize the national unity of this identity through political sectarian entities that work past the framework of legality is a crime against religion and the country.
The Ministry added that linking any Islamic sect to these organizations is also a crime to its existence and disrespectful to its rituals.
The Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs stressed the importance of respecting and obliging to the rule of law and its sovereignty as it is considered the foundation of state institutions. Respecting and obliging to the rule of law is necessary to protect and preserve freedoms and rights. The Ministry added that the rule of law is the lawful framework for political and civil work within the framework of national unity.
The Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs said in its statement that what has been recently raised about the “Olamaa Islamic Council” has been dissolved under a court ruling as it is considered to be an unlawful entity that was established in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and the Law. The Ministry further stated that the “Olamaa Islamic Council” has gone out of its context through inciting misleading sectarian messages for political purposes that are clear to all.
The Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs said that the history and the respect of religious scholars in Bahrain is a genuine and consistent approach in the Kingdom. Bahrain is not in need of an organization that was established beyond the framework of the law that pursues sectarian politics to confirm its history in respecting religious scholars in the Kingdom.
The Ministry mentioned that the ruling of the Administrative Court to dissolve the “Olamaa Islamic Council” is due to the said organizations political institutional activities immune from any legal control and which deviated to the extent of incitement of violence.
The Government stressed that the legislator, that values the role of political societies, its participation in the political scene, and the entrenchment of the principles of social peace and national unity, permitted all citizens to form political societies and/or join them. In order for it to fulfil the societies’ goals, the legislator had put a set of rules and procedures to regulate their activities.
The Ministry warned from the dangers of political sectarianism and the challenges it presents to the notions of patriotism, democracy, and the rule of law. No one shall appoint oneself as the guardian of the citizens’ political choices in the name of religion, nor reduce the existence of a sect, its rituals, and the history of its respectable clerics in one illegal organization that is only a few years old, which strips the religious role from its essence and goals.
It is noted that the Ministry, within the framework of implementing the recommendations of the National Council, and the responsibility of law enforcement, filed a lawsuit requesting the arrest of all activities of the “Olamaa Islamic Council”, the liquidation of its assets, and the closure of its headquarters. This came following the insistence of the mentioned organization to carry out its activities lawlessly, despite the constant notices, issued from the concerned parties, that the organization is functioning outside the law and against the constitution since its foundation, and despite their invitations to rectify its situation according to laws and regulations applicable in this area.