Ban on face veil acceptable, but ears must be covered: Ceylon Thowheed Jama’ath

• Refutes claims that they were in the payroll of the intel orgs. 
• Says they informed about Zahran’s radical preaching, but got no results 
• Claims JMI is a secret group they knew nothing about

The Ceylon Thowheed Jama’ath one of the splinter groups from Sri Lanka Thawheed Jama’ath yesterday spoke in support of the ban on face covers claiming that it was an un-Islamic practice. 

Quoting verses from the Quran, General Secretary of CTJ, R. Abdul Razik said that the holy book prohibits any cover of face which hinders identification. However, he found fault with the requirement that called for ears to be exposed under the new regulations. 

“I am saying that any form of face covering -opening eyes- or other kinds of covering, is not taught by Islam. It is ‘haram’. In Chapter 33, verse 53, it is mentioned that women must show their identification while they are dressed in Islamic garb. Women should not cover their faces,” he says. 

“But The Quran requires the women to cover their hair, ears, neck and the chest area, so we need to revisit the regulation as the gazette says their ears have to be exposed.”

Noting that many other groups, such as Catholic nuns will also be affected, Razik appealed to the Government to revise the law. 

Razik also hit back at the claim that he was an informant placed by the former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa with payments from the intelligence services.

“I challenge them to show me any proof that I have been paid by the security forces,” he noted. 

However he admitted to having had close communication with country’s intelligence services doing their “national duty as a social organisation” from the time they were a part of the Sri Lanka Thowheed Jama’ath in 2007 onwards. 

The group which split from the SLTJ last year over “religious differences” as claimed by Razik, has informed the intelligence agencies about Zaharan Hashim and his preaching since 2016 he claims. 

The groups, which closely monitored Zaharan Hashmi’s Facebook account also notes that he became vocal of jihadi concepts in 2017 but after the Teldeniya attacks last year, called his followers to avenge the attacks. 

“We told the intelligence all this information, but they didn’t block the Facebook account. They only blocked it after the attack,” he said. 

However CTJ claims they knew nothing of the other splinter group responsible for the attack, JMI claiming that it was a secret group that didn’t surface till after the attacks.