The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has requested amendments to the uniform code of the security services to authorise army and police officers to grow facial hair.
A media official from the ministry confirmed that a letter was sent to the President’s Office this week officially requesting the policy change “to give permission to police and army officers to grow beards as in other Islamic countries, since our constitution is based on Islamic principles.”
Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed told local media this week that a number of army and police officers had appealed with the ministry for the change.
Shaheem argued that in spite of disagreement among scholars regarding the issue, the Maldivian constitution provides the freedom to adhere to Islamic codes.
He noted that other Islamic nations such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Pakistan permitted beards in the military while Sikhs in the Indian army were allowed to wear beards.
Shaheem explained to local daily Haveeru this week that the Islamic Ministry was not advocating in favour of making beards mandatory for the uniformed bodies, but rather to allow those who requested permission to wear beards.
“While our constitution offers that right, why has it been forbidden by some in an Islamic country?” he asked, adding that he had complete confidence that President Mohamed Waheed “would not turn his back on the request.”
“Mocking the Sunnah“
Shaheem’s religious conservative Adhaalath Party, part of the ruling coalition, put out a statement yesterday “condemning in the harshest terms” remarks made by two unnamed scholars in a lecture to police officers last week that the party contends “mocked” the Sunnah (way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims on the basis of the teachings and practices of Prophet Mohammed).
The press release did not identify the speakers by name. However, a police media official confirmed that the session was conducted by Dr Ibrahim Zakariyya Moosa and MP Afrashim Ali, a moderate scholar and council member of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).
According to police media, the pair spoke in detail about sources of disputes among religious scholars, including on the issue of beards.
“In his speech, Dr Afrashim Ali mainly explained the importance of knowing how the Prophet’s Sunnah is ranked,” reads the police news item.
MP Afrashim argued that issues on which scholars have not been able to reach a consensus could not be declared either compulsory or heretical as “there cannot be a definite conclusion regarding such problems.”
According to Adhaalath Party, one of the scholars told police officers that there was no benefit to society from an individual wearing a beard “even if, for example, it was established from the Prophet’s Sunnah.”
The remarks implied that growing a beard was not mandatory in the Sunnah and cast doubt on its purpose, the Adhaalath party statement argued.
“As some officers of the Maldives police institution wanted to wear beards, he attempted in his talk to convince them that there was no need to do something that was of no benefit to society,” the statement reads.
Adhaalath Party noted that there was consensus among Islamic scholars that wearing beards was part of the Sunnah. Scholars however disagreed as to whether the practice was obligatory upon all Muslim males.
“This is as clear as the midday sun,” the statement claimed, citing authentic hadith purporting to show that the Prophet “ordered all Muslims to trim their moustaches and grow out their beards.”
In its statement, the Adhaalath Party’s scholars council also urged all government departments and state institutions to “amend all regulations in conflict with Islamic principles.”
Article 10 of the constitution states that the religion of the state is Islam while “no law contrary to any tenet of Islam shall be enacted in the Maldives.”
Religious NGO Jammiyathul Salaf meanwhile released a statement yesterday signed by the group’s President Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohamed Ibrahim, Sheikh Hassan Moosa Fikry and Sheikh Ahmed Sameer bin Ibrahim insisting that beards were compulsory in Islam.
The Salaf statement further claimed that regulations prohibiting beards in the military were unconstitutional as it was contrary to a well-established tenet of Islam.
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According to Quran, it is perfect, fully detailed, and has all one needs to practice Islam. Allah is the teacher of Quran and only He can explain Quran. Even Prophet Mohamed was forbidden to explain Quran beyond the transmission of the verses that God revealed to him. [See verses 6: 51, 114, and 115; 11: 1; 4: 116; 75: 16-19; 55: 1-2]
Wahhabees habitually draw on Hadith to preach their evil ideology because Quran doesn't contain verses ordering men to grow their beard, women to veil, men to marry underaged girls, or men to have sex outside of marriage in secret and call for the flogging of women for out of wedlock pregnancy in public.
It's about time Maldivians told these Wahhabees to mind their own business and read the Quran or its translations for themselves for instruction on Islam.
this is scary shit
WOW! A lengthy article "creating news" on a non-news matter.
Am no fan of Salaf. But in this case they are right. In any case whats the problem with someone in the military or police keeping a beard? Nothing.
Let us not deny basic rights on stupid grounds.
@Ilyaas
It is an issue, Ilyas, because this is the beginning of prescriptive orders forced on us by a bunch of people who have turned to the cult Wahhabism and seek to impose their belief systems on us.
This not about beards, it’s about a small group of men telling other men and the government to practise something they believe in, not something that the Qur’an tells us to do.
Our constitution says we have to be muslims, not wahhabis. the Minister of islamic Affairs is violating our constitution whe he orders such Fathwas.
Wahhabism is prescriptive, and appeals to racists, fascists, misogynist’s narcissists, and those who desire to control others. It’s a belief system developed by the Arab Wahhab .
Wahhabism has deviated from Islam. It’s a cult following the preaching’s of a man called Wahhab. Not the teachings of Allah and Muhammadh Peace Be Upon Him.
Shaheem may be The Minister of Islamic Affairs but he does not have the authority to send Fathwas to the President based on hs belief systems, it should come from the council of Islamic scholars.
What happened to What We Don't Like About President Nasheed And What We Demand Now from the Government list that Shaheem and Co pulled on 23 December 2012???
I didnt see beards on that list.
I havent heard any Fathwas coming out of Minster Shaheem requesting President Waheed all those things he wrote up on that list either. Have you??
Maybe he lost the list.
I am concerned that the concerned citizen hasn't been garrotted on the spot for his concerns, which are blasphemous and outrageous! I am outraged!
The authentic hadith as relayed by Bukhari and Muslim, may Allah be pleased with them, are necessary to contextualize the verses of the Qur'an and to provide a holistic understanding of what our religion teaches and demands from us. Without them, you would not even know how to pray.
Incidentally, the punishment for fornicating IS found inside the Qur'an.
Our harlot women should be rounded up and flogged for having produced ignoramuses and MalDeviants anyway.
This aversion towards beards is proof that they have raised effeminate sons. SHAME ON OUR HARLOT WOMEN!
@ Hussein on Wed, 16th May 2012 8:54 PM
I see nothing "prescriptive" here. All these guys are asking to be allowed to keep a beard if the individual wants. That he should not be denied that right through a regulation.
C'mon its only a beard! Whats the big deal? If a girl wants to wear a short skirt or low cut top just let her. If a woman wants wear a veil that's her right too.
Just let and let live. The mullahs should not bother others if they wear western clothes or no veil. Like wise we should let those who wish to keep beards or wear 14th century costumes let them go around wearing those.
So long as we can co-exist peacefully, why not?
The military should also use swords and arrows and camel cavalry - Inshallah when we follow the Sunnah we shall see armies of angels descending to help our military in its quest to establish Shariah in the region.
Oh and please let them shorten their pants too. And ban those disgusting tranny parties the boys are so fond of. We want pure men to serve our country.
And no women. Their place is as nurses and poetry reciters. Not as fighters. Ban them.
Well well well. Would you look at all the heretics outright defying the beard, which is compulsory in Islam. I have one myself, and I fear that the Maldivian men who don't keep one, will be punished in Jahannam on the day of judgement!
@Ilyas
I agree..if it is the wish of our service men to wear beards, they should be allowed to do so.
Where I disagree is if they wish the government to change the code that dos not allow beards, that wish, that request should come from the Ministry of Defense to the Chief Commanding oficer, the President, not from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The President may, if he wishes consult with the MIA who I should hope will consult the Council of Islamic Scholars. This, I believe should be the protocol.
then they should also be allowed to grow their hair to whatever length they desire.
Beginning of the end! Back to the dark ages!!
@adhaalath
You should be garrotted on the spot for being an insolent MalDeviant who mocks our religion and its scholars.
In truth, you mock only your own delusions. None of our Ulammah call for replacing guns with swords, for there is nothing in Islam opposed to the use of guns.
Moreover transporting camels here would be a logistical nightmare, the scale of which is akin is to instilling competence and intellect into a woman. Camels need not be imported, nor women encouraged to work as nurses (or anything else), nor are our scholars exhorting us to indulge such ludicrous enterprises.
It is enough that our women be raised to guard their chastity and virtue, so that their offspring may be God-fearing, observant and proud of their religion, rather than seeking to emulate the effenimate clean-shaven Westerner.
Whether we win this particular battle or not, it is as I have always said: to fix the deficiencies of our nation, we must fix the deficiencies of our women.
This must be prioritized over all else. Especially frivolous economic issues that elicit no distress in those who truly place their trust in Allah (swt). Alhamdulillaah.
There are very specific reasons why military personnel are required to have short hair whether it be of the facial variety or the scalp variety.
It's mostly to do with unarmed combat and these traditions have been inherited from the likes of the British Army and others. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether a fella has a beard, tache or not. As an example, Sikh soldiers around the world serving in various countries do keep their turbans and, of course, the long hair, hidden underneath that turban. They also sport beards and taches.
The military is all about following orders and a deeply hierarchical system of command and control. This is vital for maintaining combat effectiveness.
Having said all of that, I completely disagree with the idea of keeping beards on religious grounds. That's complete hogwash. Does a fella sporting a long unruly (and unhygienic) beard and trousers of a certain length represent a better human being? Of course not, it's just a load of old bollocks!
What a bunch of losers. As Adaalath says now they would ban the use of guns and only arrows and swords can be used.
Next, they have to ride on camels instead of vehicles.
I wonder where these people like Shaheem come out from?
If they want to live like the Saudis, they are most welcome to leave Maldives and live the way they want to live in the desert.
As for the Hadith, no one can actually say that all these are authentic. If you apply the Islamic Sharia to these as per the witness, then all would fail as these were written after 250 years and only by word of mouth. There are so many conflicting ones too.
Why do these "wahabis" try to equate the Hadith to the Holy Quran? In fact Khalifa Umar banned the writing down of the Hadith, for this same reason saying that eventually Muslims would equate the Hadith to the Holy Quran. Now it is happening in our life time. These Mullahs quote the Hadith as if it was fact while in all essence no one knows if it was a fact unlike the Holy Quran.
Finally....magay thunbulhi mash'ah
Allah told Mohammad that Muslims must keep beards and women must wear Burkha. Allah was talking to the prophet for 24 years straight. After that the connection was broken and nobody else was allowed to talk to Allah. Mohammad was declared as the final prophet. God's order must be followed.
if you wanna wear beards why don't you ****ing quit??? why do you people have to make things hard for everyone else.
turban should also be allowed. and military jaariyaas and a camel unit too. sunnify the military! allaaahuacbar!
@ Hussein
Point taken and accepted.
Hanguraama,
Our Muslim women were the first to attend to the injured in the battlefield and bring water to them even before that shameless harlot Florence Nightdevil flirted around with army boys.
My request to use camels and arrows was to get as close to the Sunnah as possible. You may think we might fail, what with their tech being better than ours. No brother have faith. Daud (as) beat Jalut, the few Muslim men won against the many kuffar at Badr, Muslims conquered Persia and Egypt, the Taliban beat USSR. By imitating the Prophet we get closer to Allah and He will send down angels to confuse the kuffar and winds to blow dust in their eyes and prostitutes to give them sicknesses. Isn't this better than holding a gun with our dominant right hand andd a Quran in our dirty left hand with a kalima headband and shouting Allah Akbar. With faith we will win. And this is not a mockery.
Islam FTW!
Where is the harlot IndiraNewDelhi? Did she convert to Islam and quiet down like a good pearl?
Why can't the decision makers focus on what are the priorities now.
With the amount of works needed to stabilize the country, and set a steady way forward, i just do not see that growing beards should be a focus of the decision-makers now.
No wonder why we are so slow in progress...
And yes, MNDF and police should be given freedom to use camels to petrol Maldives. The scary fact is, there are al-Qaeda sympathizers and supporters in MNDF, and it's part of their plan to turn Maldives into the next Afghanistan. This happens when uneducated people who are ignorant to what is happening in the world are promoted within MNDF and rouge sheiks are allowed to preach the soldiers.
It is all horse-shit, most important thing is to be clean, when we see these guys in Maldives with long beard to the shape of an AXE and not taking a bath for several days and not using any deo or perfume, one with a sensible mind, let alone be religious will not accept that it is the "correct" way or the way Prophet Muuhummad wanted his believer's to follow,
Let's be sensible - be clean, wear nice dress that covers the parts that you don't want to show in public, take bath and use deo and perfume to get away with bad smell so that the rest of the people can live peacefully.
We can't, we can't accept Maldives to be the hills of Afghanistan, those guys who wants to live like that, please feel free to go there and those who also wants to live like Europeans, please go there, Let Maldivian's live the way they choose live - it is none of your business !!!
Seriously, what should be the prescribed length of the beards? It should'nt be 'as you wish' or else think of the cop with very long beard chasing a drug pusher down Male's thin, Serpentine alleys and tripping over!! what next?
JeeeeeZ''
wtf is wrong with this country. get rid of these evil wahaabees now
Maldivians who take the Sunnah seriously, literally are beginning to realize that their deepest hopes and aspirations were played with, used, exploited, chewed up and spat out by those who appealed to the defence of Islam to gain support for rallying against Anni. Maumoon, as one example, told Adhalaath, his views were not that different to Adhalaath's. Jameel wrote a pamphlet giving one the feeling he wanted to implement full scale literalist version Shariah Law.
Present Government, enemies of Anni, you buggers started this Islamic fire. Now you are attempting to stamp it out as your fire has done the job of helping burn away your first ever Democratically elected President. But your attempts to stamp out the hopes of those whose ambitions you have birthed only to smash is going to create a bigger flame than ever. Mark my words Religious whores! You thought you could lend religion out like a prostitute and then discard it? You unite yourself to these people's cause, in an uncommitted matter, to use it for your gain, when you have no committment to it, is attempting to prostitute the religion! This Religion is no whore you stupid, ignorant, hedonistic idiots! You unite yourself to it, it will demand that you marry it and enthrone it, or else, JUSTICE!
Thwarted ambition, exploited then smashed ambition creates rage like nothing you have ever seen! Mark my words, you who have used Islam, you will reap what you have sewn!
I hope this will be a lesson to future wanna be leaders, be honest to both the religious, and to the liberals about what you can and can't do as a Government in the Maldives. Politicians on both sides have lead the people on both sides of the divide to believe they can deliver promises they can't! Thats natural politics, but toying with ones deepest religious aspirations, for an extremely Religious state OR for religious freedom, is below the belt in this political contest!
Too late
I respect the extremists on both sides. Extremist liberals - extremist Muslim!) I revere Hilath and those who stood with him for religious freedom, because, at least they are not pretending to want something they don't in order to gain power, and I respect the hard core Muslims, because, at least you can be sure you know what the hell they stand for and you are under no illusions!
Two timing, double crossing crooks (Imran, Shaheem and Ilyas) wants us to forget what they have done to this country in the name of Islam and once again be the learned and saintly guys they have been portraying themselves!
Why not also request these men and women be allowed to go about without underwear and bras? However, make sure that women folks compulsorily should wear the "Ninja" style hijaabs!
That will make you more saintly following the Sunna (even though you have been the major force to make these men and woman to rebel against the leader of this nation! You very well knew that it is against Islamic principles to rebel against the leader unless he was calling you to denounce Islam!
You guys are such a hypocrites, that you should be garrotted "on the spot"; chopped in to pieces, then into smaller pieces, and be fed to the crows of the Maldives!
But sadly they will not dare touch your meat!
Because, you simply stink, and you are inedible!
@Ali Shiyam
Precisely why they have come out with this at this time. To take our attention away from the CMAG negotiations and the comings and goings of the PPM government.
@Dhivehi Hangurama
You seem to have a serious issue with fornication. You have a problem. See a psychologist. Soon. Get help.
Apart from endless discussions on the koran and sunnah it seems muslims have nothing else to do.....what a boring life you people lead.
The dumb edicts that emanate from your Islamic Ministry are a sourse of great amusement to us 'cow worshippers'. Fortunately we don't have a 'Hindu Ministry' telling us which bodily hair to grow and which colour underpants to wear. You primitive people make us hindus look so civilised and progressive.
Ordering Maldivian men to grow beards is not a good idea..... Maldivian men are already disadvantaged by their looks.....being short, fat, dark, physically unattractive and smelling mostly of fish. Getting Maldivian men to grow the silly moustacheless islamic beards will only add fuel to fire.....You will all look like a bunch of neanderthals.....like the present members of the aforesaid ministry.
You don't want to scare away the tourists now do you?
@ Indira NewDelhi
What is your problem? Why do you poke your nose where it does not belong? If you hate Maldives and Islam so much why do you love spending so much time reading and commenting on articles posted on Minivan News??? Stay in India and keep your comments to yourself! And how dare you say that Maldivians are dark, fat and physically unattractive! I am pretty certain from what little I know of you, from your filthy words on Minivan News that you are an ugly woman who has nothing better to do than sit on your fat arse and put other people down to feel good about yourself! Get off your high horse and look around you, you Indians are flocking to the Maldives for employment and bending backwards to marry Maldivian men and women, the same ugly, unattractive and fat people. Tell me, why would your people want to do this? Stay out of our affairs, woman!
@Dhivehi Hanguraama - Amazing how much you attribute towards these harlot women you speak of. Why is the fact that the men around now may be 'effeminate' due to us weak minded women? Shouldn't the Men be blamed for the sins of their son? Particularly since us women are all weak and stupid, unable to even *gasp* raise proper bearded sons
@Harlot Woman Infidel on Sat, 19th May 2012 9:49 AM
You have chosen an appropriate moniker for yourself.
Wise men know that unvirtuous wombs do not produce unvirtuous offspring. Hence it is indeed the harlots that are at fault.
You should take issue with them. I am but a humble scholar tasked with conveying the truth. To attack the messenger will not benefit you in the least.