Police summoned a white magic practitioner to evaluate a young coconut believed to have been cursed by a black magic spell, after it was found near the Guraidhoo Island presidential election polling station in Kaafu Atoll.
Police told local media they took the coconut into their possession around 7:05am yesterday (September 3) after receiving a report that the suspicious ‘kihah’ (immature coconut) was located near the Guraidhoo Island School – the island’s polling station for the September 7 presidential election.
The coconut was discovered near the school where the polling station is to be set up, Island Council Vice President Abdul Latheef Ahmed confirmed to local media.
“The police brought a ‘ruqyah’ practitioner (white magician) to examine the coconut, who said it was a fake,” a police source told Minivan News today. “Because it’s a fake the police are not worried,” the source added.
No arrests have been made in the case, according to CNM.
“The four-inch coconut had a Sura [Qur’anic verse] written in Arabic and was lying on the ground near the school, easy for the public to see,” said a source from Guraidhoo with knowledge of the incident.
“When school students saw the coconut they called the principal, who then contacted the police,” he continued.
“It was not really ‘fanditha’ (black magic) on the coconut. If it was fanditha, there would have been Arabic letters and numbers written, not a Sura,” he explained.
“It seems like it was a joke, just a prank, so that people will become aware, learn the moral, and not do it again,” he noted, suggesting the coconut was a lesson for islanders not to practice black magic in an attempt to influence voting, and that the polling area would be closely monitored to prevent such activities from occurring.
“Now the police and school officials are more aware and police are patrolling the school at night, so magicians can’t practice real black magic at the school,” said the Guraidhoo source.
Currently nine police are stationed on Guraidhoo for the upcoming election. Normally only five officers are present.
Election fanditha
Using black magic to either prevent people from voting or influence them to vote for a particular party or candidate is common practice on Guraidhoo.
“Here for most of the elections people use black magic to win [elections],” said a source from Guraidhoo on condition of anonymity.
He recalled an incident where a black magic practitioner predicted a man would die because of the election.
“Then on the election day the 45 year-old man died and people said it was because of black magic,” said the source.
In July, parents at Guraidhoo Island School refused to allow a polling station in the school for the upcoming presidential elections, due to concerns over black magic practiced by a local witch.
The parents alleged there was a witch on the island who, during previous elections, had cast spells to influence the outcome in favour of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) which had affected children after targeting the school premises.
“Girls in the school were getting headaches and having been fainting school for years,” the island source explained.
The Elections Commission ultimately decided to place the ballot box inside Guraidhoo School despite parents’ concerns, reported CNM.
Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek reassured the parents that the commission would take full responsibility if any black magic incidents occurred.
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I'm at a loss for words!
possibly the best "political" story of 2014
oops, 2013! damn black magic spells have me confused
CAN I JUST REMIND YOU ALL,THAT IT IS 2013..WHITE MAGIC/BLACK MAGIC INDEED !!!!
Fanditha is not black magic - black magic is sehuru. And, quite correctly, sehuru can not be done with a Sura from the Koran.
Such is the state of our electorate.
Building democracy requires that we build the knowledge base of the people to develop their capacity to think critically.
The underlying theme of this article is the gullibility of the common Maldivian. Imagine then how our campaigning is based and what sort of issues are bound to influence the outcome of the vote.
Down the line, if we are able to wrest control of the Education Development Center (EDC, the Faculty of Education (FE) at the Maldives National University and the teachers unions from islamic-fundamentalists (in whose hands those institutions now rest) then we may be able to steer the education system towards building the mental faculties and capacities that would establish real democracy in this country.
Currently the miniscule middle-class in this country are all dependent on political-party largesse therefore they feel no need to demand transparency, accountability and fairness. Once the people start advocating those principles, then and only then can we move away from the system of patronage that has made lazy idiots of our working class, corrupt robbers out of our middle class and amoral money-grubbers out of our rulers.
Seriously? HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHHAHA Come on. This is utterly ridicolous. A cursed coconut? 2013 guys. Wake up!
Be it 2013 or 4013, if gullible Dhivehistanis believe in imported Arab mythology, they can easily be fooled into thinking that coconuts with Arabic squiggles can influence presidential elections. Dhivehistanis are kept dumb and ignorant by the mullahs and the elite. Any one who dares to questions the status quo is forced to conform to the herd. Anyone who opposes authority is squashed under the boot-heel of the ruthless "sifain". So why are we at all surprised when villagers in an Indian Ocean archipelago believe in Semitic desert myths about genies?
“Because it’s a fake the police are not worried,” the source added.
Wow! You can't make this up. This is beyond stupidity.
Fanditha - comes from the Hindi/Sanskrit word 'Pandit' - meaning priest
Aadeetha (Sunday- in Dhivehi) - Refers to the Sun god, 'Aaditya' means Sun in Sanskrit
Homa (Monday- in Dhivehi) - Refers to the Moon and the rituals practised during full moon. Still done in Sri Lanka. Also refers to Hindu rituals
Buddhi ( Wisdom - in Dhivehi) - Refers to Buddha, the founder of Buddhism
Many ancient mosques in Maldives face the east rather than Mecca. There is a reason for this, the sun rises from the east. Ancient temples for pagan worship of the sun, later converted to Buddhist temples and in modern history to mosques.
The practise of fanditha, though Arabized is directly derived from Hindu rituals.
The Dhivehi language itself is derived from Sanskrit, the latin of South Asia. We share more with our 'idol worshipping' neighbours than we ever will with the Arabs.
Police should recruit people who practice magic to their forensic team and MNDF should also have a force of Black Magicians. We are moving back to the good old days.
The fact that Minivan news has devoted time and space to this 'story' is an indication that Fanditha works.. How else could Minivan get caught in such an absurd story..
So, its not only Maldivains who believe in this sort of things and this is proof.
We need a Witch Finder General, like the one they have in Saudi Barbaria:
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/saudi-arabias-war-on-witchcraft/278701/
Don't clarify this. It's better to keep it in the mists of unknown, and have people gawk and install fear of this powerful source.
As peasant has described above, a lot of you language, rituals and customs come from us civilised cow worshippers.....and not from the arabs. You share the same dumb belief as your Paki brothers that you are descendants of the arabs. Oh dear.....nothing could be further from the truth. You just cannot manipulate history to suit the teaching of your mad mullahs.
Your ancestors were not riding camels in the arabian desert poppets.....they were cannibals who embraced buddhism and much later islam.
This belief in black magic and rituals is proof of this.....also you still look short, fat and scary as though you've just feasted on some unfortunate christian missionary.
You cannot speed up human evolution.....maybe in five thousand years you may be as civilised and cultured as us hindus across the pond.
Sent from my ipad from the coffee shop, Golf Links, New Delhi.
@homosexual
I love you dude! you nailed it right this time.
Don't you all worry cuz Gandalf the grey is on the way to Guraidhoo Island to watch & protect the presidential election. Merlin will be assign in Male' in case black magician will interrupt the election.
What a bitter sweet momentm in a way this article defines the dhivehi people and the mental meturity, ofcourse right down to the institution. Level. Ironically its proof that democracy is going to fail in Maldives. Better sweet for the same very few in the Maldives.
Its not important where the practices come from, it happens both in south asia and arabia as well.
Police summon white magic practitioner!
Give me strength.
It’s so sad that modern-day preachers of Islam, especially the Imams in pathetically-poor and illiterate populations, are regressively evoking fears of the devil and condoning practices which were features of European and North American Christian societies 400 years ago. It makes me angry thinking about the waste of young lives and trillions of dollars that went into Iraq and Afghanistan in futile endeavours to establish democracy where nobody understands or wants it. The Maldives seems to be no different.
“Quick, name me a Muslim country that is truly democratic” You can't, can you!
Damn why did I not think of that before New labour and Blair