President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu used his National Day address to announce that legislation creating a strong institutional framework to guarantee no law contrary to Islam can be passed in the Maldives will be submitted to the third sitting of the People’s Majlis this year. He framed the move as the modern continuation of the sixteenth-century struggle the day commemorates — the fight of Bodu Thakurufaanu and his companions from Utheemu against Portuguese rule.
The headline commitment
The President said the Constitution already bars any law contrary to Islam, but warned that no comprehensive system currently exists to enforce that guarantee. He called the gap between the written principle and its protection an area the country “must now address decisively,” and committed to closing it with legislation this year.
Nation before self
HEP Muizzu’s central message was that personal interest must never come before the nation. He contrasted Sultan Hassan IX — who, under Portuguese protection, traded his people’s faith for his throne — with the rivals Alirasgefaanu and Abubakr Rasgefaanu, who set aside their political rivalry to stand together for the country. “The national interest must always come before personal differences and individual preferences,” he said.
He stressed that the sacrifice was shared across every rank — a ruler, a regional leader, merchants, ordinary citizens, a scholar, women, and a young man all named among those who fought. Patriotism, he said, recognises no distinction of status.
Unity as strength
The President pointed to the Kalhuohfummi, Bodu Thakurufaanu’s vessel, built by forty shipwrights from forty islands, as proof of national unity in times of need. He urged Maldivians to move forward “as one people, with one spirit, one determination and one purpose,” and to turn away from division.
Faith and freedom, intertwined
Calling Islam “the lifeblood of our nation,” Muizzu argued that the Maldives fell under foreign rule for years because some abandoned their faith — a betrayal, he said, of the nation, its independence and its dignity. Whenever the State drifts from Islam, he warned, national independence is placed at risk.
Lessons from the hero
Drawing on the life of Bodu Thakurufaanu, the President tied each of the hero’s qualities to a present-day duty:
- Mastery of the sea — equip today’s youth with the knowledge and skills their era demands.
- Diplomatic judgement — safeguard the national interest in dealings with foreign powers.
- Strategic discipline — draw strength from faith and determination.
Unity in everyday conduct
Muizzu brought the message down to daily life, arguing that a nation is also built through small acts of respect — thanking a taxi driver, making room for others, treating neighbours and colleagues with fairness. Citing a hadith that the believers are one body, and Ibn Khaldun’s warning that civilisations fall when values collapse, he called for morality and social values to be treated as a national priority.
The takeaway
The address honoured the heroes of Utheemu not as distant history but as a standard for the present — and the President measured himself against it, naming a specific law, chamber and year. His closing appeal to the nation: place national interest above all else, stay united, and keep faith and sovereignty as one.
