COLOMBO : The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) has expressed its dissent over the letter issued by State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals and National List Member of Parliament Professor Channa Jayasumana which he addressed to the Justice Minister complaining of a non-binding religious opinion issued 42 years ago by the then ACJU. As a responsible and learned individual, it would have been appropriate if Professor had, the courtesy of verifying this issue from All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, which is a well-known organization of Muslim religious scholars in Sri Lanka, rather than addressing a third party.
State Minister Prof. Jayasumana’s allegation is that, 42 years ago the ACJU ‘issued an extra-judicial verdict to kill’, which is absolutely false, grossly mischievous and highly defamatory of the ACJU’s senior, prominent and respected scholars by all Muslims in Sri Lanka and worldwide who held office a very long time ago.
In a statement to the press, by the ACJU secretary general, Sheikh Arkam Nooramith said on Friday, Jan.7 , it said : “ We are constrained to ask as to why Prof. Jayasumana is raising a long-settled issue also reminding and connecting this with the unfortunate incident which took place in Sialkot Pakistan, where the people and the Government of Pakistan have done the best to family of the victim. Specifically at a time when we as Sri Lankans are struggling to overcome the financial crisis and while we are in need of support from all sectors to urgently raise required external funding from foreign countries, including Pakistan, to meet essential imports of basic necessities.
However for the sake of clarity, we wish to mention the following matters:
As an Islamic Religious bthathich gives guidance only on Islamic religious matters, it is beyond our authority to issue judicial verdicts on any matters.
The ACJU only issues non-binding religious opinions on Islamic religious matters.
We wish to emphasize that we, All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama and Sri Lankan Muslims, like all other citizens, are under one judiciary system in this country.
However it is the responsibility of the religious bodies to clarify and guide our communities regarding deviant and alien ideologies which is contrary to basic fundamentals of the respective religions. And if anyone uses the name of religion and misleads the community, it is the duty of the Religious bodies to raise awareness and educate the public by declaring that the particular ideology is incorrect and deviant by issuing a non-binding religious opinion.
We are deeply saddened that at a time of serious economic hardships affecting every sector in the country, Prof. Jayasumana’s script writer has attempted to harm our relationship with Pakistan by irrelevantly mentioning the Sialkot incident and also trying to divide communities on intra-religious issues instead of uniting the public for the progress and development of the country.”
The ACJU has invited the Professor to visit the organization for a cordial discussion without allowing himself to be misguided by evil elements.
Ash Shaikh M. Arkam Nooramith
General Secretary – ACJU
