SJ's response: Mosque delay due to ministry's negligence

The SJ Company has said that delays in the completion of the mosque being constructed in Hulhumale' Phase 2 by the company is because of a "lack of approval" from the Islamic Ministry, with the deadline for its construction having passed as well.

This was stated in a letter sent to Islamic Minister Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed by SJ, with it also outlining the reasons for the delays in the construction of the mosque.

The letter, signed by SJ Company Director Shihad Ibrahim, was sent after an issue had cropped up relating to the message sent by Minister Shaheem to Shihad.

The letter alleges that the message sent via WhatsApp by Shaheem had said that "private business is being conducted after stealing MVR 30 million". The letter also reads that a screenshot of news regarding SJ developing a resort was sent to Shihad, with a message reading, "This is what you are doing instead of constructing the mosque."

However, Mihaaru News could not prove the legitimacy of the text messages.

SJ's letter states that as there are no professional employees who are capable of writing up the agreement for the construction of the mosque, the ministry requested that the company draft up the agreement instead, with it subsequently being done by them. Shihad also said that the ministry wanted to sign the drafted agreement as is, but the company refused to sign the agreement without getting a recommendation from the Attorney General.

Shihad said that the agreement was later amended to include an article from the Attorney General.

In the letter, Shihad stated that structural and architectural blueprints from the ministry were also included as part of the agreement. He also stated that it is the responsibility of the ministry to provide missing pieces of the blueprints, remove defects and bring about necessary changes.

As per Shihad, the mosque is to be constructed differently from other mosques in Maldives, with it to include a courtyard with concrete arches connected to the mosque.

"Areas for worshipers to conduct ablution and bathrooms will be in the courtyard. And so, if the Qiblah is off by a little bit, the courtyard will also see its effects."

Shihad said that the direction of the Qiblah in the mosque blueprint and the Qiblah which was shown in the ministry's depiction of the construction site did not match, with the subsequent changes creating a loss of two meters in the concrete arches. And so, he said that the blueprint needs to be amended to include changes where the arches match, with the ministry requesting a halt on the work of the courtyard and the mosque.

According to Shihad, the ministry did not provide the blueprints for three years.

He said that a request was made to the ministry in 2023 to provide a structural drawing of the mosque's dome as it was missing, but that it was not provided.

"It is known that the dome of the mosque is 80 feet by 40 feet in the shape of an egg. It is not possible to build the dome without the structural drawing."

Shihad stated that the minister had gone to the construction site on 2nd September 2025 and upon seeing the unusually large size of the dome, he requested it be redesigned as it may cause maintenance difficulties. The letter reads that the company had redesigned the dome and resubmitted it to the ministry.

"To this day, we still have not received the minister's instructions that he had given after his arrival to the site. We also have not received approval for the drawing," as was written in the letter.

Shihad stated that the work is a part of state efforts, with the changes and amendments to the agreement, along with instructions from the minister to be given in writing. However, after Minister Shaheem had taken up his post as minister, Shihad had accused him of not signing any of the later amendments that were made to the agreement.

As per Shihad, the company had taken a risk by employing a Malaysian company to fabricate the dome. He said that payment had been made via Ceylon Bank, with the dome set to be transported to Maldives from Malaysia within the first week of February.

Shihad also mentioned that they had flagged an issue regarding the doors of the mosque to the ministry in writing, but they had received no instructions from the ministry on how to proceed.

While highlighting the various acts of negligence from the ministry, Shihad said that the company has built and completed 11 mosques and Islamic centers, with them having handed over documents to the ministry. He also highlighted that after they had been awarded the project to build the mosque in Hulhumale' Phase 2, they were already working on constructing 75 rowhouses in HA. Dhidhdhoo and 100 housing units in L. Gan. As these are major projects that began after the mosque project, Shihad highlighted that they had given the required documents to the Housing Ministry after 95 percent of both projects had been completed.

While stating that the company is conducting housing projects in AA. Rasdhoo, Lh. Kurendhoo and S. Feydhoo, Shihad had raised the question as to why projects in Hulhumale' were not moving forward when SJ Construction can successfully move construction materials from Male' to the islands and conduct projects.

"The answer is because the party that awarded the project is irresponsible," said Shihad.

Shihad stated that even though the agreement to build the mosque had been voided, the company works to draft the missing blueprints themselves and submit them to the ministry. He also stated that they are moving forward with construction without waiting for approval from the ministry and that they are seeing positive results on-site without being dependent on the ministry.

The letter requests the minister to clarify as to how the funds were "stolen" as per the minister's words and how the shareholders of the company had stolen then, to state the level of completion regarding the ministry's responsibilities under the agreement, to find a way to provide the project timeline and to find a way to provide the meeting minutes from the meetings that were held on June 2025, October 2025 and December 2025.

The construction of the mosque near Hiyaa Flats and close to Salahuddin School was awarded to SJ in January 2022 after the agreement was signed between SJ Constructions and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The initial agreement was to complete the work within 420 days, or one year and three months, of commencement.

The prolonged construction of SJ's mosque has been drawing criticism on social media.

There have been allegations that SJ is taking advantage of duty exemptions on imported materials for the mosque to benefit their other projects. The Islamic Ministry previously denied this, stating no materials were given duty exemptions.

Defending against allegations aimed at SJ Company, the Islamic Ministry stated that the mosque work resumed after a long pause when the current government came to power.

According to the design, it will be a 1,400-capacity mosque. Including the courtyard, it will accommodate 3,000 people.

The mosque in Hulhumale' Phase 2 is being built under a settlement agreement between SJ Construction and the Islamic Ministry. This agreement was made after the cancellation of SJ's contract to build Male's Zikura Mosque, which led to the company claiming MVR 141 million in compensation.

In response to growing complaints due to the completion of the mosque taking too long, Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed stated in February that the mosque would see completion by the end of December.

The ministry had given no response when Mihaaru News had reached out to them in December 2025 regarding the delay in the construction of the mosque.