An Indian teacher on Foakaidhoo in Shaviyani Atoll has been rescued by authorities after islanders tied her up and attempted to throw her off the island for allegedly drawing a crucifix.
Haveeru reported that senior teacher at the island’s school Ibrahim Rasheed attempted to explain to the “devout Muslim” parents that the design drawn was a plus symbol marking north, south, east, and west directions on a map.
Following a joint investigation by the Parent-Teacher Association and school management, “they refused to accept the facts when their claim that the teacher had drawn a [crucifix] was explained,” Rasheed told Haveeru.
Students and parents protested outside the school on Wednesday evening, he said.
Meanwhile the teacher, who has worked at the school for three years, has been moved to Funadhoo.
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This is beyond ridiculous.
Just how stupid can we be??
I am ashamed to be a Maldivian...
..and they say ignorance is a bliss..Certainly not for this poor teacher..
There seem to be a trend..could people from Foakaidhoo be having a special gene?
Ali you are very right. This is too much. We should be more civilised than this.
wow. just wow. it's come to a whooooole new level now.
"throw her off the island" ... are they serious ??!?!?
One of those island which is a throwback into the past.
The shame of it all. Now lets see time to go and tease those Foakaidhoo people.
i usually write stuff here against secularism and people who comment supporting it but this time i also have to say.....this is ridiculous
True Islam at work.
I wonder if the school children have never seen a cross...this so ridiculous
fahaafoshi: congratulate you this time for understanding its ridiculous. you have made huge progress. 🙂
and we expect quality teachers to teach in islands as well?
did it ever occur to you that the teacher _might_ have drawn the crucifix and is now denying it and saying that its a compass? once again, all the power is in the media.
Camel riding barbarians.
Dude or dudette?
The actions of the islanders is not a representation of Islam at work. Its called stupidity and ignorance. I was reading an article just now about the maldivian education system being responsible for the lack of proper religious enlightenment thus resulting in the birth of extremist. The islanders probably are quite backward and uneducated to mistake plus signs for a crucifix. The story could have been entirely different if it were set in a more educated and knowledged society which has a good understanding of islam and other studies.
This is not islam at work. But shear backwardness.
next time a math teacher who writes a plus sign will be crucified because he drew a cross! i wonder if they know god gave us brains to think!
This is seriously sick. How dumb can people be!!! Embarrassing!!!
Some commenters are blaming the "backward islanders" for this. But these "backward islanders" happily accepted any foreign teacher who came to teach their kids until quite recently. Now they don't want any non-Muslims to teach their kids. They don't want their kids to see anything that might even resemble a cross.
How did these "backward islanders" suddenly become this way in the past 6 or so years? They were taught these behaviors by missionaries. That's right, missionaries, but not christian missionaries. The missionaries that changed the islanders were Salafi missionaries from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives who used the tsunami as an excuse to frighten the already traumatized people into buying their version of Islam.
These islanders who formerly wanted their kids to get educated and go to western countries to for university education now want to send their kids to madrassas in pakistan. Those who were previously demanding modern health facilities now don't want to vaccinate their kids.
So the real blame for this backwardness lies with the salafi organiztion like Jamiatul Salaf and Adhaalath. And the responsibility should also be shared by Anni who gave political posts to these salafi's and DRP who use every chance they get to scream "Christians!!"
So the truth of the matter is that Maldives is being destroyed by Salafi missionaries and the politicians who have aided these missionaries for political gain.
Sounds like yet another strong case for introducing Religious Studies to schools, to avoid this kind of ignorance from continuing and casting shame on the Maldives. It's like the people who thought the MDP's "temple flowers" logo was linked to Christians, haha! Some people need to realise that educating people about other religions does not encourage them to change religions. An equal amount of time is spent studying each of the main religions, what they are about, the things they have in common with others, and the things they don't, in an even-handed manner. It helps people better understand people from other cultures, as well understand and reinforce their own personal religious beliefs. This fear of the outside world and pervasive mono-culture can't continue.
They tied-up a teacher just because they thought she drew a crucifix?! I shudder to think what they'd do if she went out in public in a short skirt and red high-heels? Or if they found out their teacher was really a cross-dresser.....
As narrow as our society has gotten, we do have a lot of freedoms here!
"did it ever occur to you that the teacher _might_ have drawn the crucifix and is now denying it and saying that its a compass? once again, all the power is in the media."
So what if she did? Are we supposed to deny that Christianity even exists? Jesus was a prophet in Islam too. What next?
Do we deny that the Earth is round?
this is completely sick. the group of people who decided the way to deal with that issue in that way are the people who need to be thrown off cliffs. there is no room for ignorance like that in the world today.. i find it disgusting. where i live we all get on happily no matter what race or religion and the people in this day and age who decide to take actions over things like this do not deserve to be here.
uppl werent there....i saw it. i was there.............she actuaaly drew a real cross n talked abt its holines.............................................
This is why religion should be separate from public life. A secular democratic society guaranteeing individual freedoms or a repressive theocracy which strives to do the impossible - to confine individuals' thought within a boundary; we can't have it both ways. We need to choose.