Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has warned that Christians and Freemasons are working to “create doubts” on Islam within the hearts of young Maldivians.
Local media reported the Islamic Minister as claiming there is a “strong psychological war” conducted by “various Christian organisations” to “wipe out” Islam from the Maldives.
Shaheem further claimed that the Freemasons – a secretive society originating from Europe – was carrying out activities “in secret” within the Maldives.
Shaheem was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 886th anniversary of the Maldives’ conversion to Islam from Buddhism, in accordance to the legend taught in Maldivian schools.
“Various Christian organisations and missionaries are strongly involved and active in our society. They are working within us and outside, trying to create doubts on Islam within the hearts of young people,” Shaheem declared.
“We have got a lot to do to strengthen Islamic faith through the national curriculum. We have to clarify the doubts being cast in the hearts of young generation. We can only overcome this through unified collaboration,” the Minister added.
President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik meanwhile expressed similar sentiment to the Islamic Minister, asking the public to be cautious of activities being carried out to allow other faiths into the country.
Waheed said the Maldives had remained an independent and sovereign nation because it was a “100 percent Islamic state”, and that the “unity and brotherly bond” between people was the result of Islam.
“It saddens me to say that despite the existence of such a bond, today we’re seeing a little weakening of that bond. We need to seriously think about this, especially when the introduction of multi-party politics has resulted in deterioration of familial bonds and social well being,” he said, in his address.
Waheed said it was important for people create love towards Islam and strengthening Islamic faith, as the country celebrates the day the Maldives embraced Islam.
President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad meanwhile told Minivan News that the government had not been made aware that undercover Freemason organisations or Christian missionaries were operating in the country in an attempt to undermine Islam.
Massod added that the matter would be better forwarded to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs for clarification.
“We try to keep out of these matters,” he said.
Sheikh Shaheem and leader of the government aligned Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Imran Abdulla, were not responding to calls at time of press.
The story of how Maldives embraced Islam
The legend of how the nation converted to Islam is one that is still taught to children studying in Maldivian schools.
According to the story, an evil demon named ‘Rannamaari’ appeared from the sea on the first of every month, and would only leave the islanders alone after the sacrifice of a virgin girl.
Every month the islanders selected a girl to be sacrificed for the demon, only to discover her body on the beach the following morning.
This continued until one day a Muslim traveller named Abul Barakathul Yousuful Baru Bary arrived in Male’ and happened to stay in the house of the next virgin girl selected for sacrifice.
As he saw the whole family weeping in sorrow he asked what was going on, and learnt about the procedure..
He then decided to disguise himself as the virgin girl and go to the temple instead. The following morning the islanders found him alive and reciting the verses of the Quran.
The King and his people were impressed that the demon never appeared after that incident, and decided to embrace Islam from that day onwards.
The story itself is now dismissed by the young generation as a myth, with many people believing instead that it was the King himself allegedly raping and murdering the virgin girls every month.
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National symbolic myths are the part and parcel of all countries including the rational Europeans, from where the Minivannews comes from.
The story of Rannamari and virgin sacrifice is a one of the unifying myths of Maldivian state after embracing Islam. if it were today, some political parties would definitely not want Maldives to be Islamic.
Anyway, just like the European countries, the symbolic meaning of the national myth is what is important, not the literal meaning of the story. Nations are definitely not founded as scientifically to the likings of Minivann.
Do not tell me that all stories propagated by Minivann are NOT myths. Some are.
Mind you, the story you have written above is not the way it is recorded in Dhivehi text books.
Abdul Barakath DID NOT DRESS UP AS A VIRGIN... that is a myth that you have invented above. Your own version.
So my dear Minivann. Your are not any better in creating lies than us Maldiivains..
The sheikhs have such weak believe.
@symbolic meaning: Aboo Barakaath dressing up as a virgin, and reciting the Koran while waiting for Rannamaari is part of the myth.
Since you have begun changing the myth to suit your view, let's change it some more and make the myth more plausible:
When the Maharaja (in the guise of Rannamaari) came to claim his virgin, Aboo Barakaath jumped up, wrestled him down and raised his skirt to reveal his Moroccan cock.
Aboo then gave two options to the Maharaja: either be sodomized, or convert to Islam. We know what happened. The Maharaja converted, but disappeared shortly after because he wasn't able to get over his fear of Aboo.
i do not understand how minivan is trying to relate this story with missionary role here in Maldives.
The non muslims virus is in the country and it has been affected many people and Nasheed is among them who are trying to promote this.
tell u what mullahs...its time Maldivians are going to fight for freedom of religion...dont u understand its a fundamental human right...
Bismillah,
Ya Ikhwanul Muminun, Allah Subahanahu Ta'ala, has granted a victory:
http://pdfcast.org/pdf/the-global-islamic-civilization-power-of-a-nation-revived/
Remain strong.
Wa'salaam
The greatest deception on Earth, propagated and kept alive, by the fiendish Arabians, so that they can enjoy unlimited tourism. The more in the dark the victims remain, the better returns the Arabians get.
Faith comes from uncertainty, fear and with propagated belief in someone’s psyche. Faith does not have any scientific proof based on reality what people are experiencing and experimenting. Religions are losing ground because they are all based on false belief and myths that science is proving them as myths and false. It is obvious that human being did not start from Adam and Eve and the universe was created out of nothing with simple physical and mathematic laws. Adaalthist can not stick in the past for political gain which is the basic foundation of all religion. Some people deviate from religions because they want is progressive and peaceful life which is the real purpose of life. There is no foreign conspiracy to wipe Maldives from its precious gift bestowed by all mighty. Education, science and openness are the real culprit which adalath cannot keep locked behind ignorance. If Adalath wants to people to stick to their belief system, they should project a religion more appealing and scientific that is compatible with contemporary world. You need to reform Islam as religion of many religions in the world with one purpose of universal brotherhood.
Up until now I wasn't aware that virgins had a specific identifiable dress code.
Seems to me that BMW and the Sheikh s are laying the ground work for playing another round of the religious card. The last time this card was instrumental in bringing down a government.
What astounds me most is the way BMW has gotten into bed with the Mullahs. Waheed's children misled from the faith, Waheed himself unable to recite Al-Fatiha and the wife who dresses like a h.#r*&t cannot be easy for the Mullahs to digest.
We support Sheikh Imran for President & BMW for Vice President. Who knows - he may declare war on India because they have cows & Bollywood.
Freemasons huh? Shaheem has been reading too much conspiracy theories on the web. I'm surprised he didn't mention the evil sodomites and their gay agenda. LOL. What next? Reptilian aliens? Try to tone down the fear-mongering and teach some tolerance.
Also, Minivan News, since many are objecting to the myth of the cross-dressing mullah (lol), why not mention the real story? The one recorded in the loamafaanu where the monks were beheaded and religion was forced upon the islanders. Then, as is now, religion was used by the ruling class as a tool for their economic and political advantage. It was a used to make us afraid of the outside world, the symbolic Rannamaari, so that we'd be obedient citizens bowing down to our feudal lords and their clerics.
rannamari doesn't necessarily have to have been a maharaja. that could be right, but could also itself be a myth. there've been many peoples throughout history who've made human and animal sacrifices to spirits and gods, including people in the indian subcontinent.it is possible that is what used to be practiced.
How utterly ridiculous is this?
How insecure must the Sheikh be to start accusing Christians of secretly eradicating Islam in the Maldives...
As years go by different faiths change paths - just because youths of today aren't as orthodox as in years gone by does not mean that they no longer believe in their particular faith. NOR does it mean Christians and Freemasons are secretly trying to eradicate it.
ALMOST LAUGHABLE.
Islam is never going to go away or be eradicated - he needs to stop worrying and get on with focusing on the positives in life as it is not very islam to go around accusing people and focusing on negative things - TERRIBLE example for the Islam youth of today. What a joke.
AND WHY would Christians be bothered about our tiny island in the middle of the ocean? What an idiot. Go and do something productive for the nation instead of spreading fear and lies around what once was a beautiful island, but has now been ruined by people like him.
I doubt that fellow Seikh Shaheem would recognize one even if he fell over a Freemason! I do not know why these nitwits always have to make out that every other religion or society is "out to get us".
What an uneducated fool this man is. If he had bothered to do some research on Freeemasons he would understand that they don't follow a specific religion. To become a Freemason you must accept there is a higher deity than man, it doesn't dictate which version of God you believe in. The fact that there are Freemason lodges in Pakistan, Saudi, India, Sri Lanka, China and probably 90% of other countries around the world testifies converting to any one religion isn't within their aims.
Their main purpose is to give charity to the less fortunate, much closer to the Islamic principals than the Islamic Ministry of the Maldives portray.
If Christians really wanted to convert these islands, they could do so easily. The Catholic Church is the single richest institution in the world with trillions of dollars at its command. They could unleash their "masons" on this tiny spec of a country in the Indian Ocean in no time at all. But they don't and never have.
The truth never matters to the Mullahs who are fearful of losing their grip on power. This is another example of a mind game being played by them, to ensure they are somehow relevant in society.
We all know that there are far bigger threats than Christians or Fee Masons facing today's youth. Drugs, lack of educational opportunities, unemployment etc are far bigger challenges facing the country and its youth. Do the Mullahs have solutions for these?
More than the Christians and Freemasons, I think the way these sheikhs behave today are enough to loose faith in the good values Islam offers to its followers. These so called two faced religious scholars are in this for money, fame and power. It is sad to see they deteriorated the respect we once had for the title, but today there is only a marginal difference between a sheikh and babbling hobo who has not washed their clothes, taken a proper shower and had a clean shave for last 12 months. So don't go preaching about Christians and masons trying to create doubts amongst youth, take a good hard look at the mirror and reassess your strategy if you are to convince me.
“Various Christian organisations and missionaries are strongly involved and active in our society. They are working within us and outside, trying to create doubts on Islam within the hearts of young people,” Shaheem declared.
Shaheem and his mates in Adhaalath have caused more damage to Islam and created more "doubts on Islam within the hearts" of everyone, than any Christian or Free Mason could ever do! Gayyoom was quite right to keep these idiots under control. That's one of the Gayyoom policies that I actually applaud!
If Islam is so strong then why is it they fear it will be destroyed ?? I guess if this happens it will be god's will lol !!
A world without religion makes more sense with each passing day....?
This is ridiculous. The President gave a statement on the day Maldives converted to islamic brotherly bonds are weakening. And instead Minivan News decides to make it look like he accusing christian missionaries and freemasons of taking over the maldives. They dont even mention that he gave that statement because of this event.
Journalistic standards are deteriorating in Maldives and this website is now contributing to it.
Sorry to say Shaheem, but religion will die out by the end of the century, and this includes Islam. People are becoming more progressive, and starting to believe in science and reasoning rather than superstition and myths from thousands of years ago. The majority of atheists I have met in the Maldives are young people, either in their teens or in their early 20s. Surely they were brought up in Islamic households. With globalization, the internet and more technological advances, information is free and more widespread, and there is nothing adhaalath can do about it. As thunderfoot once said, the internet is where religions come to die.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rqw4krMOug
"Institutions calling for Christianity are working in our society: Minister" Sun.mv
"Must be vigilant against efforts to create room for other religions..." Haveeru
Nice spin on the article. You sensationalist psychos, you are harming our society and country, and while they are creating paranoia, you are creating hatred.
Go back to dailymail or back to selling pies or whatever youve been doing
Why mullahs are so insecure? Insecurity comes from uncertainty, uncertainty means you are in doubt and doubtfulness does not mean it is true. False idea and false belief are forced down on people and this is the reason Mullahs are so worried about freedom. The human being are very investigative by nature and once you start thinking critically religions fall apart therefore Mullas have put a religious decree that don’t think because you are a salve of almighty and this almighty does not like to question about him because if you probe you will reach to the bottom and the bottom line is there is no God as explained by religions. If there is a god that god is Zero from which everything started. We now know that you don’t need a cause to begin a cause and this can be proven scientifically so Why Mullahs are wasting their time for such unworthy cause. Instead Mullas should convert them to human rights champion to alleviate human suffering by unifying the difference in the people. Think about the fate of every living thing, it is death. So the certain thing is death and death means the end. So live full life and let others live how they want to live.
In this country , no one will be able to bring the religious freedom and Islam will be here for ever.'
No matter how hard Nasheed and hies friends tries, you will fail in your propaganda.
Minivan is a propaganda machine of Nasheed.
Hey Kuribee, go talk to your friend Waheed, willya?
pointing fingers & false accusations to look good in others..
just like Mr. Ahmed Bin Addu Bin Suvadheeb said: "prohibited drugs, lack of educational opportunities, unemployment etc are far bigger challenges facing the country and its youth". this is the reality here in Maldives.
I thought the Jewish optometrists were the ones trying to destroy Maldives. I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie.
1. Why have a comical headline and Rannamaaree story with a photo of Islamic center. I am offended as a Maldivain. Why is Minivann provoking Islamic sentiments.
2. If the Mullas are paranoid (being how paranoid and irrational they always are), why is Minivan news care.. Its seems to me that Minivannews is also paranoid that Maldives is 100 percent Islamic.
"I thought the Jewish optometrists were the ones trying to destroy Maldives. I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie."
LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,LOL,
100% Islamic= robbery, murder, rape, drugs, smoking, corruption, bigotry, alcohol (black market), prostitution, homosexuals, STD's, multiple sex partners and the list goes on. You say 100% Islamic, well you can find all this in Male soI guess this all must be part of Islam, no ?? Gee wiz, good thing there is no pork or alcohol on the free market, the we would all be in real trouble, lol.
I just don't understand what this mania about religion and land.
Whether it is 100% or not, you will be punished for the wrong that you do.
It is an individual this. Islam says so. Christianity says so. Every damn religion says so.
What is it to you if someone else does not share your beliefs. You are colorblind; Most are not. You faint at sight of blood; Most don't. Some are thalassaemic; Some are not. Some has cancer; some don't; Some are extremely beautiful / handsome; you are not.
Bottomline is, it is not mandatory that all will 'see' religion as you see it.
Freemasons? I'm smelling propaganda, minivan.
hehe! Welcome to the 5 star paranoia resort!
Here we go again. Hypocrisy to fullest. Christian, Jews, Hindus, Atheists are destroying Islam and Maldives. But still it is those people that Maldives want most for tourism, export markets, aid, technology and immigration. I can understand there are such fools everywhere, what I don't get it is - in some countries there are no opposition to such morons.
Mivaru ge ragalu muslimun uley Gaumeh dhuni ye ga vess nonnaane. 30 aharu ge theray ga enma gina ono muslimun nikuthee Theemu Ge in.Gayoom ge furaalun. Mivaa kameh.
Don’t touch him…. He is above the law of jungle ruled by semi evolved piggy judges and brainless people with some uniforms who call them police.
See, this is one of the things extreme religious thoughts lead to: paranoia.
Sorry sheikhs, outsiders don't care about the religion of 300.000 islanders. Again a sad attempt to fuel xenophobia and lead the Maldivians to extremism.
@Ahmed Bin Addu Bin Suvadheeb
Yes, only Gayyoom can control the various fundamentalists with his iron fist.
I am a foreigner live here and I am not a Gayyoom supporter but things were in control under his rule. Look at what happen the last 18 months - utterly chaos.
I am APPALLED that Shaheem and his cronies forgot about the threat of ATHEISTS, JEWS and ISRAELI'S who are trying undermine Islam.
But then again, it makes no difference to them. Only in Maldives can a man be accused of being a Christian Atheist Hindu Buddhist Jew and carrying any item resembling a cross, statue or idol can it automatically mean the person is not a muslim even if he believes in Allah, prays five times a day, gives to the poor and if a woman wears burqaa, hijab or dresses conservatively.
Nope, only appearances matter so even the act of having anything non-Islamic looking associated with you or interact with other non-muslims means you are automatically not a muslim.
Intent? content of character? Niyai? WAT DAT?
What are these Sheikh's drinking? Do they think faith is like a thin glass bottle that breaks so easily? Oh wait, they do.
But wait, we all know what they are really trying to do. This is all just a smoke screen to get people diverted away from the real issues; repressed sexuality, lack of education opportunities, drugs and other factors that play a part in the increasing degradation of our country.
This intolerance, this racism is something that stretches back almost 800 years and not even Anni dares to challenge that collective hive mind of the religious. It's so deeply ingrained that I'm sure if any one carries a bible or a cross in today's society would immedietly get attacked, beaten and '-re-educated'.
What's funny is that us Maldivians despite our fears are entirely dependent on outsiders for our needs, especially non-muslims. We rely on tourism to boost our economy, when we have a military crisis we need to call India to back us up and even now our former President is holed up in the Indian Embassy to avoid the Kangaroo courts.
This intolerance is just a ghost from our past. Ask a single Maldivian today and not one of them would be able to give a believable account of how Maldives became Islam. Not a single one. The real reason remains a mystery and no Christian, Atheist or Jew would be able to shake the 800 years worth of religious strong hold. So Shaheem, stop worry about the secret Christian-Jew-Atheist-agenda because trust me, not a single one has actually succeeded.
We need to understand the real reason why Maldives converted to Islam and given the blood soaked Buddha statue that was destroyed last year, it was a more violent tale than the one purported by the romantic fairy tale.
Islam is used for dectetorship. They want to rule on the name of allah. What they don't want called it un islamic.
Shaheem is using his ministerial post to campaign for Adhaalath Party to boost its membership. He should be fired from his job. Anyway the term "Sheikh" is not an academic title, but rather depicts a leader of a tribe in most cases. The word was used initially among the Hashemite Christians in Lebanon. It is like "Mr" in present day. The worst thing a country can have is too many "Sheikhs". Most of them coming from Pakistan is trying to convert the "Shaafi" Maldivians to "Hanafism". We should send all these mullahs to Pakistan and Afghanistan and bring secular citizens from those countries. The conversion of Maldives to Islam was the most brutal event in all of Islams history. Those who opposed were slaughtered just to get the magic number 100%. Even during Prophet Mohamed's time no one was forced to convert.. hence you find Christians and even Jews in Egypt,Iran Iraq,Palestine and all other Muslim counties except here. 50% of our youth do not believe in any religion. You mullahs cant force religion down our throats. Freedom of thought is the only real freedom that you cannot take away from us. Don't be disappointed when you do not find a single virgin let alone 70 in heaven, cos all you Mullahs have already been booked one-way tickets to Hell(without re-fund).
Yeah, Shaheem! just listen to the blabbering of the amateur dinosaur head scientists commenting on this educational dumb site which is either implying that humans came to existence from a dinosaur egg or from ape sperms or from a coincidence (for gods sake, you want to make us believe we are here for nothing, just to have donkey sex and sniff up drugs and booze, wow! how dumb ignorant can you get!)
THESE DUMB IGNORANTS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYTHING IN SCIENCE IS ALSO BASED ON BELIEF.SCIENCE IS FINDING THINGS WHICH WERE ALREADY THERE, YOU DUMB HEADS!!
the beginning of the universe, the beginning of life is all based on belief and theories proposed by scientists.Nobody is sure about anything which shows us how weak we are instead of the arrogant gas filled balloons we want to appear as.
Just today the so called scientists were boasting about their so called intelligence and highlighting the unlikeliness of an asteroid hitting the earth but what did actually happen ehhh???!! a big meteorite hit Russia escaping the wide opened eyes of the cleverer than god scientists sight! so much for their intelligence???!!!and science, can't even defend the ever so loving atheistic supporters!
And for the others who comment on Islam ignoring the real issues, when was this country following the Islamic law???!!
And didn't we have the trendy western style of doing everything!
And is the West free of rape, murder, drugs, doping, abuse etc etc so what methods are you suggesting to implement??as the west themselves do not have a solution to this????Dumb as***!
By the way, evolving from Apes or dinosaur eggs make us look like gullible egg heads, wouldn't the creation from a greater creater sound more believable and justifiable to the human kind!pls guys! be reasonable and uphold your dignities, don't become a s*d and stoop to such lows(PS; homosexuality is non existent in animals; ever wonder!!!!???)
as you have separation of powers, (division between religion & politics) there can be no vested interests that would be concerned about losing something would there??? .......... fear is usually fear of losing something you have or not getting something you want....which is it in this case?????????..........j
homosexuality is non existent in animals; ever wonder!!!!???)...INCORRECT
Dear Slimy oops sorry Shimy, You are the most ignorant person I have come across recently. You must be one of the Mullahs living in your own 7th century world. Dinosaurs were extinct millions of years before Humans came into existence. And as John Campbell wrote, there are documented evidence of homosexual behavior in animals, among juvenile dolphins, monkeys and several other mammals. This is due to the fact that in animals living in packs or groups only the alpha male and female have the privilege of mating and due to a hormone, the sex drive of other pack member's sex drive is kept in check. In the case of the Komodo Dragon, a female can give birth without the presence of a male. All the young will be male. The mother then mates with one of her male offspring to bear both male and female eggs. The Anemone fish colony has only one female and the rest are all male but when the female dies, the largest male turn into a female within 2 to 3 weeks. The opposite happens in the case of Anthias. Even humans have a third gender, called gender variants with both male and female body parts. So I would advice you to stop believing in the knowledge of people who lived 1400 yrs ago and wake up to the 21st century. I feel sorry for guys like you. Religions are fabricated for the poor and ignorant peasants and desert Bedouin tribes. Just visit Paris or Monte Carlo. You will find all the rich and Arab royalty dominating the casinos and clubs, most of these are owned by them. Wake up.... at least or the sake of your children.
@ Ga Sia and campbell,
Aha, good that my comment was read by people like you.I got the attention, dumb me and my Islamic thoughts!!!
if you can quote silly people like Campbell then i can quote many more, in fact i can quote scientists from the field!the thing is people's thinking are too shallow!!!???what to do???
Read below
The Animal Homosexuality Myth
http://www.narth.com/docs/animalmyth.html
in which it says
-- "Homosexual" Animals Do Not Exist
In 1996, homosexual scientist Simon LeVay admitted that the evidence pointed to isolated acts, not to homosexuality:
Although homosexual behavior is very common in the animal world, it seems to be very uncommon that individual animals have a long-lasting predisposition to engage in such behavior to the exclusion of heterosexual activities. Thus, a homosexual orientation, if one can speak of such thing in animals, seems to be a rarity.[11]
Despite the "homosexual" appearances of some animal behavior, this behavior does not stem from a "homosexual" instinct that is part of animal nature. Dr. Antonio Pardo, Professor of Bioethics at the University of Navarre, Spain, explains:
Properly speaking, homosexuality does not exist among animals.... For reasons of survival, the reproductive instinct among animals is always directed towards an individual of the opposite sex. Therefore, an animal can never be homosexual as such. Nevertheless, the interaction of other instincts (particularly dominance) can result in behavior that appears to be homosexual. Such behavior cannot be equated with an animal homosexuality. All it means is that animal sexual behavior encompasses aspects beyond that of reproduction.[12]
It Is Unscientific To "Read" Human Motivation
And Sentiment Into Animal Behavior.
Guess "Ga Sia" and "campbell" are better scientists than the above mentioned ones in the article. And by the way humans evolving from dinasour eggs was an idea suggested by researchers like the ape theory from Darwin.
And if homosexuality is in fact found in animals than cannibalism, parent killing, devouring their own offsprings should also be brought into consideration??
And what do the rich Arabs got to do with my religion???
@Ga sia,
"The creation of the Heavens and the Earth is indeed greater then the creation of mankind; yet, most of mankind know not."[Al-Qur'an 40:57]
ever wonder???!!!and the west thinks humans are better than everything but then again stoop lower than animals!!!
Plus how can you suggest that i am a mullah, isn't that being racist, stereotyping or whatever!!??i thought tolerant people like you came to eradicate all of this???!!tsk tsk!!