Maldives National University must #DeplatformIyaz
#EndFGMmv
Dr. Iyaz has been strongly advocating for female "circumcision" in The Maldives
We must express our concern about Dr. Mohamed Iyaz in regards to the increasing number of harmful rhetoric expressed by this individual on his social media.
He has publicly advocated for major human rights violations such as female genital mutilation, murder and marital rape.
Female genital mutilation is still practiced in The Maldives and this rhetoric has the power to cause long-lasting damage on a large number of women and girls.
#EndFGMmv
Email MNU and tell them to take action against their employee
Copy the email template below and email the University and ask them to hold their Professor accountable, and to stop providing him with a platform for such advocacy.
Email
[email protected]
[email protected]
To whom it may concern,
I am writing this email in order to express deep concern and issue a complaint against your Assistant Professor Dr. Mohamed Iyaz in regards to the increasing number of harmful rhetoric expressed by this individual on his social media (https://twitter.com/dr_iyaz). The posts in question can be found below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vwA2zKKaLRtjX5BIehbC35VXlK6ycjpxsbQYYlBbx00
On June 23, 2021, Dr. Iyaz tweeted out a webpage by “islamqa.info” entitled the “medical benefits of female circumcision”. This is highly shocking as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a violation of Human Rights according to the United Nations and has no health benefits according to a 2020 report by the World Health Organization. Moreover, the link includes outdated information from a study conducted in 1979 and blatantly misrepresents the results which do not actually support FGM.
Dr. Iyaz has also spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic by tweeting on February 23 2021 that the majority of people who test positive for COVID-19 are “those who would not enter a mosque even if only to get shelter from the rain”. He also discouraged social distancing in mosques through various tweets, which can be found in the provided link.
In his Viber group “Islamic Knowledge Viber Groups”, Dr. Iyaz has affirmatively answered questions asking whether forcible sex ("gadhakamun jimaau vun") with women during their period of iddah can revoke a divorce. In these answers, he does not recognise forcible sex to be an act of marital rape contradicting with his statement that "causing harm is not permissible in Islam". Additionally, Dr. Iyaz has also condemned the conditional recognition of marital rape as a criminal act under the Sexual Offenses Act.
Furthermore, Dr. Iyaz has actively shown his support of child marriage as well as murder publicly to his large audience which consists of the majority of the Maldivian population.
As Dr. Iyaz is an influential figure, his public endorsement of harmful narratives and misinformation is dangerous. He has shown time and time again that he is not fit to educate the public, neither as a professor nor an Islamic scholar and preacher. I urge your institution with utmost concern to review and take proper action against your Assistant Professor on grounds of public health concerns as well as misinformation.
As such, your university has a responsibility to ensure that he does not have a platform to perpetuate further harmful rhetoric which will cause irreversible damage for generations to come.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
Tweet to MNU!
MNU must take action on Dr. Iyaz. Let them know by tweeting to them, asking for proper action and accountability.
Use the hashtag #DeplatformIyaz and #EndFGMmv
Tweet to @hsn_hameed @shaheenbougan @ShehenazAdam @MNUedu
The mutilation and violation of the female body has no place in Islam or The Maldives.