Former President Mohamed Nasheed has stated that no fatwa is required on female circumcision, otherwise known as female genital mutilation.

His statement comes at a time where the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has requested a fatwa on female circumcision from the Supreme Council of Fatwa, better known as the Fatwa Majlis, at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. HPA has since voided its request at the ministry following public outrage.

In regard to the incident, former President Mohamed Nasheed took to Twitter on Wednesday, stating that the Child Rights' Bill has been approved and ratified. Further, he stated that female circumcision is a form of sexual abuse and that swift action must be taken against perpetrators and enablers of such acts.

In 2014, popular local scholar Dr Mohamed Iyaz Abdul Latheef issued a fatwa calling for female circumcision citing specific hadith of the Prophet Mohammed.

As such, scholars from Al-Azhar University, one of the oldest universities in the world, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation which represents 53 countries with Muslim-majorities have both declared FGM to be unacceptable in Islam as there is no mention of female circumcision in the Quran and the few hadith falsely attributed to Prophet Muhammad approving female circumcision have long been found to be unreliable.