Police spokesperson has confirmed the investigation, but provided no additional details. According to information received by Haveeru, the married couple are Mohamed Sodig, 28 and Aminath Jeelan, 27 of Sh. Foakaidhoo. The couple, who departed from Ibrahim Nasir International Airport on Friday night, took their two children along: a girl of six years and a boy of two. A senior official at the Foakaidhoo Council disclosed that they have received information of the couple and their children entering another country via the Sri Lanka route. He added that the woman’s mother was taken ill upon receiving the news and had been admitted at the Foakaidhoo Health Centre. The official stated that, though the mother has been discharged since, the news has brought despondency upon their whole family. The couple had migrated to Malé this year to enroll their children in schools. “Apparently, the couple used to mention going to Syria every now and then. But their family members had not taken it seriously,” said the Council official. “People realized they had left the country only when they could not contact them and sent someone to check their apartment. Earlier, some people had seen them buying US dollars.” According to a Foakaidhoo resident, the woman had informed her family earlier that they “cannot contact each other anymore since the phone is damaged”. “After looking into the matter, all that the family gathered was that they had taken a transit from Lanka to another country,” the resident continued. Maldivians joining the Syrian civil war with their families have been on the rise.. According to the Figh Academy of Maldives, leaving to fight in the current civil wars of Islamic countries is not permissible under the present circumstances. In the fatwah (Islamic sermon) released last week by the Figh Academy, they declared that wars between Muslims were clearly deemed haram (unlawful) by the Prophet Muhammad. The fatwah added that, according to the Prophet’s teachings, the actions to be taken under such situations are exercising patience, praying for protection and deliverance, and remaining united. “If a people of an Islamic nation go in the name of Jihad to another Islamic nation which is in turmoil, it opens the doors for the enemies of Muslims to be involved in the matters of Islamic nations,” is written in the fatwah. The Figh Academy had previously released another fatwah calling for people not to take part in the civil wars of other countries.