The Adhaalath Party has accused the Maldives Association for the Advancement of Science (MAAS) of attempting to lead the students of Fuvamulah schools astray by lecturing them against the tenets of Islam.
In a press release issued by the party’s Fuvamulah branch, Adhaalath claimed that lecturers from MAAS tried to convince the students that human beings originated from monkeys and that “our forefathers were monkeys and we are sons of monkeys.”
‘’They [MAAS] told the students that everything was created from nothing, on its own, without a God,’’ the press release alleged.
The Adhaalath Party claimed MAAS lecturers taught the students about Big Bang Theory and Quantum Theory, and told the students that the earth, universe and everything in it “was created from nothing.”
‘’Students of Fuvamulah understand that it is impossible for something like a pencil to be created by itself. It is regrettable that this scientists’ association did not know as much,’’ the party said.
When the students refused to accept what the lecturers were trying to explain to them, the lecturers spoke in such a way as to make the students feel they were unscientific, said Adhaalath.
Founding member of MAAS, Ahid Rasheed, told Minivan News that the series of science lectures had been solicited by the school, and that students had shown “excitement and curiosity.”
“We were invited to give presentations on science and astronomy, and mostly gave an introduction to science, such as why it’s important, and how can serve as an introduction to the universe,” said Rasheed. “We introduced key concepts in the field such as findings by Einstein, the discovery of gravity, evolution and the Big Bang. But we didn’t promote anything, and we did not mention religion. That wasn’t why we were there.”
Rasheed said the presentations spanned one week and that school staff were in attendance. “If the school and teachers had any objection to what we were teaching, they would have said something. Until today, we have had no negative feedback from people on the island. They’ve actually been inviting us to do more presentations.”
Rasheed supposed the anxiety generated by the lectures was due to basic misconceptions of science, which he said were evident in the classroom.
“We had to do a whole lecture on basics. For example, a majority of the students didn’t believe that humans had gone to the moon,” he said.
In another case, Rasheed reported that younger students were asking basic questions such as why the sky is blue. “Students deserve to know about the basics of where they are, and the world around them,” he said.
The possible contradiction between science and Islam was broached by one student, Rasheed said. “I said what I tell others: that there might be some reservations from Islamic scholars, maybe because of misconceptions about science. But there is no contradiction between Islam and the Big Bang theory as far as I am aware. A majority of Islamic scientists agree with that.”
Pointing out that Islamic scientists were historically famous for their discoveries, Rasheed said “it’s sad because science is not something we can neglect, science means development.”
Adhaalath’s press release noted that the MAAS team was sponsored by the Fuvamulah council. The Fuvamulah councilor is a known member of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), from which Adhaalath recently split.
‘’We strongly condemn this act of MAAS, which was also against the Religious Unity Act. We assure the people of Fuvamulah that we will not let them get away with this and will work on this issue until either action has been taken against them or until a trial is conducted,’’ the party said.
Violations of the Maldives’ Religious Unity Act are punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
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retarded Adhaalath. prefer to believe in hobgobblins and fairies rather than scientific proof
big bang, quantum, relativity, islam, christianity are all theories trying to explain what this is all about. iadhaalath should take it cool because these kids will anyway come across these subjects and topics in this day and age over the internet and other media. so instead of trying to spoon feed a tunnel vision truth of islam, why not let the children decide for themselves what they feel is a better explanation. at the end of the day, no matter what, deep down i think everyone believes that there is a god!
science is HARAAM!!! it encourages people to question & criticize!!
minivan and their selective news coverge. there are more important things happening here than about a press release. due to the governments economic mis-management the general population is 'angaya atha dhima nuwefa' yet the only thing here in this site is adhaalath, adhaalath & more adhaalath.
Isnt this 'maldives association for the advancement of science' (MAAS) the same bunch of people who organised the solar eclipse viewing on a friday at the friday prayer time with music and DJ at a male hotel? We know what kind of things these sort of people will teach to our kids. All thanks to Adhaalath fuvahmulaku gofi for taking up this issue.
If anyone teaches students that humans have originated from monkeys, that has to be stopped, because that's not at all correct. No evolutionary theory says that humans have evolved from monkeys. Instead according to the accepted theory, humans, apes and monkeys shared a common ancestor which lived around 20 million years ago. Fossil evidence is the main proof with comparative DNA studies and biochemistry of primates providing more connections. Its better to call monkeys and apes as our distant cousins than our ancestors. No offence intended, just trying to clarify some skewed versions of evolution.
@ sick n tired on Mon, Yes “‘angaya atha dhima nuwefa’, but unfortunately all the restaurants, bistros, café’ tea shops are supper full during peak hours. This shows that the general publics are doing fine. The barking dogs will always bark even if their stomach is full!
This is food for the soul of Minivan News.
According to minivan Quote:
“our forefathers were monkeys and we are sons of monkeys.”
I really doubt MAAS would say that since their claim that we really are the son's of monkeys is scientifically inaccurate.
Evolutionary biologists knows that our forefathers were not monkeys and humans and Apes share a common ancestor.
"... the earth, universe and everything in it “was created from nothing.”"
This is wrong.
Science does not say that everything was created from nothing. Science says everything was created from a singularity. It actually confirms what is given in the Qur'an.
The Qur'an says "Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? ..." (The Qur'an 021:030)
Science doesn't have to agree with Islam. Islam is something somebody wrote, like harry Potter series by JK rowling..
The same as all religions. Islam doesn't deserve special treatment. Science will be science because it is based on fact and our understanding of the universe via the scientific method.
Stop comparing religion to science.
Evidence shows that religiosity declines with the more educated people get. Maybe when Maldivians get more educated, we can look forward to secularism and freedom from Religion.
The education system is in a mess. Islamic studies consists of hearsay, myth and pseudoscience. Also Biology teachers teach against their own subject and tell kids to believe in creationism, even when there is overwhelming evidence for Evolution.
Maldivians should go back to the dark ages because they are so Anti Science.
evolution theory, big bang theory, theory of relativity, etc.. all of these are just 'theories'. meaning they are mearly ideas of the scientients who created them. none of those is error-free. thats why it keeps on changing with the advancement of technologies and new research. for example a theory which was valid yesterday maynot be so today.
on the other hand, being muslims we are obliged to believe in revelations from Allah, otherwise we will loose our faith.
so, we have to go along with the 'science' that is competible with our faith and leave those which contradicts it. thats how muslim scientists, philosophers, astrologists, physicians, mathematitions, etc who had contributed so much for modern science worked in the golden age of islamic civilization.
Observing the Adhaalath party lately has made me begin to doubt evolution too.
This is beyond ignorant. I studied Darwins theory in Primary and then later on studied Natural selection, mutation, variation and other forms of evolution in detail in Biology. We were taught by teachers approved by the Ministry of Education at Schools licensed by the same. I'm sorry, but this seems to be a valid question now. Were we being lead astray then or was that education?
We were able to study Islam as a subject while studying about evolution. I still have questions but I am confident in my faith. Science only went on to prove the same things that have been later discovered in the Quran. Science did not shake my belief. It reaffirmed it. And to come to the most important question, Must faith be ignorant? Or isn't it better, purer, when one had questions and needed answers, and reach a level of faith that he/she can EXPLAIN to another?
If the 'Adhaalath' party insists on taking the MAAS to court, I suggest they take the entire Education system. Although I think they should be thanking MAAS for filling in the spaces that must have been left by studying science and islam together and not having anyone explain the connection. All these good people did was just that. Connect the dots. I say, Good Work, People! keep it up! 🙂
I think this is just Adhaalath playing politics. They are on all the local media, with members resigning from the government, and muthalib joining up with them again. This makes them feel bigger. But here's the funny bit. Now, the kids at those lectures are probably much more aware of events such as the moon landing, but what about the adhaalath mullahs? Do they know anything beyond a man-made book?
weeee...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3849743/Man-rips-out-own-eyes-in-church.html
So, scientific imperial evidence v fairy tales and fantasy? The three main mono theisms in the world are based on the same purpose... Written by man, to control man. Yet religion is responsible for more blood shed and division than any other catalyst in history.
How blind is he who can not see! No doubt there is a handy excuse for that by the Adhaalath party too!!
People who were holding solar eclipse viewing DJ's right at friday prayer time , teaching our kids about how we came through monkeys and that there is no God and brainwashing them is indeed frightening.
Since I'm sure there'll be a lot of creationists reading this, let me try to establish some undisputed facts that must be kept in mind.
1) Evolution does not claim to explain the "origin of life". It explains why there is so much diversity in species.
2) Evolution is biology. Big Bang Theory is cosmology. They are not the same.
3) Evolution is a well-established scientific theory. There is an overwhelming consensus among biologists backed heavily by genetic and fossil evidence.
The "holes" in the theory raised by non-Scientists like Harun Yahya and Zakir Naik have been debunked thoroughly years ago, and has no scientific merit. At all.
4) Evolution has been officially adopted by even the most dogmatic and historically anti-Science establishment of the Catholic church - and now enjoys the Pope's blessings.
5) The Big Bang theory is also an overwhelming consensus. But, as with any physics theory, it doesn't necessarily have to be "real" in the usual sense.
A scientific "theory" is just a model that best explains the behaviour of a system (say our universe) or a part of it, and can make predictions.
Tomorrow, we might across newer phenomenon or evidence, and need to either further refine the theory or devise a new theory to accommodate the new findings.
6) Lastly, and most importantly, a modern scientific theory is not just a hunch someone in a lab coat came up with. These things are subject to controlled experiments and peer reviews by other scientists and researchers around the world.
To equate their hard work, painstaking research and quest for knowledge with the blind stupidity of conspiracy website crawling idiots (like our Adhaalath Mullahs and their minions appear to be) is just insulting.
The Adhaalath should issue an apology for these kind of mind numbing stupid statements.
I'm glad there are organizations like MAAS that have taken the initiative to lecture students and promote Science and learning.
It should hopefully help in arming our children with enough enlightenment to resist the Mullahs's efforts to bring in an age of ignorance.
Evolved from monkeys? That is where I disagree with the theory of evolution. We are not evolving, we still are monkeys. Adaalath is proof.
Can science compete with Quruan? Scientists are claiming new findings in the light of evidences while Quruan is a revelation of Allah. Science and Quruan can never be in harmony with each other and I think the best way to make Adhaalath Mullahs happy is believe what is said in Quruan without question and believe science with questions and evidences.
Dammit! I forgot to include a seventh point.
Those of you who reject evolution, should also learn to pretend that things like SARS and H1N1 do not exist, and must reject all form of vaccinations against these flu.
After all, these vaccinations/drugs are made with the basic assumption that evolution works.
The ignorance of Adaalath is appalling. Those people, do they read?
Evolution is a "theory" in the scientific sense of the term "theory"; it is an established scientific model of a portion of the universe that generates propositions with observational consequences. Such a model both helps generate new research and helps us understand observed phenomena.
When scientists say "evolution is a fact", they are using one of two meanings of the word "fact". One meaning is empirical: evolution can be observed through changes in allele frequencies or traits of a population over successive generations.
Another way "fact" is used is to refer to a certain kind of theory, one that has been so powerful and productive for such a long time that it is universally accepted by scientists. When scientists say evolution is a fact in this sense, they mean it is a fact that all living organisms have descended from a common ancestor (or ancestral gene pool) even though this cannot be directly observed. This implies more tangibly that it is a fact that humans share a common ancestor with all living organisms.
@ all the familiar kaafaru murthadhu vefa thibi atheists permanently anchored on Minivan...
Just to give you guys some context on your ammunition against muslims..
(not that you will not know.. you knows everything..)
Its the evolution of Christian theology and scriptures which made the world as kaafaru as it is today. when their scriptures did not agree on a scientific observation or a philosophical argument, the scientist or the philosopher was tortured, burnt as a witch etc etc which was the reason for the great dissonance between science and religion.
Today scientists are so intimidated to reveal their religious belief because the moment a scientist admits the possibility of god he is in trouble because he cannot reconcile what is in the bible with what was observed in science. If however some scientist strongly believes in bible and tries to explain where the two disciplines merge, then he will respectfully be tolerated according to societies norms.
So its the concept of god in Christianity which is in conflict with science. we Muslims say god is the creator, the incomparable, the one who begets not nor is begotten.
Now don't say there was no creation and that somehow things just began from singularity and bla bla. you and me knows that things do not start like that! Its like Christians trying to explain trinity to us Muslims. They know its wrong, its illogical but they follow the safety of the established narrative. same goes to all the explanations of creation without the creator.
Lemme give another example. given the choice of having sex with a (sweet) 16yr 11 months and 29days old girl and a 50yr old lady, 99.99% men will choose the younger girl but they dare not admit it cos nobody will want to be known as a child molester! Nobody will even try to point out that she has only 1 day left to be legally a big girl, because of the strength of the popular feeling about it. Same sentiment goes for religion. You dare not raise your voice in support of creation because of the force the opposition against it!
Basically the athiests will clutch at straws, the thin air we breathe the magnetic force lines we don't see, anything,anything to evict god from equation!
@Yameen
Didn't you read about the scare tactics the pharmaceutical companies used to promote drugs for H1N1 to make lots of profit? How can you not?
The Theory of Evolution is not meant to replace the Creation Philosophy of any God-believing people like Christians and Muslims. My son is studying Biology and Chemistry at Helsinki University. At the same time, he is a believer.
There seem to be a lot of lunatics in Maldivian high society. To hell with their ignorance.
The pinnacle of scientific advancement was reached during the heyday of the Abbasid Caliphate, that much is obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of history and should serve to demonstrate that Islam and science are not in opposition.
However, Islam does stand in opposition to newfangled pseudo-scientific theories such as evolution, special relativity and neurology (easily disproved by the simple consideration, that if it were electricity that were responsible for our thought process - as opposed to a soul - that if we spent too much time thining, the brain would obviously catch fire and melt). I find it especially of note that all these theories have a suspiciously Jewish origin, which by itself, is a fact that undermines their credibility.
During the reign of Ayatu'llah Khomeini, may his name ever be praised, advocates of such patently false worldviews would have been garroted on the spot - and this I beleive is why the Iranians are a regional scientific powerhouse, and greatly feared for their advances and Nuclear energy.
For those who think Quran has miraculous description of the big bang please check this video on Youtube for details. It explains what you would need for now.
and you think Haarun Yaaha is a scientist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNMMz1hVuDQ
*In Nuclear Energy.
Adaalath, no one wants you in this country, people are slowly waking up and realizing that these morons have no socio economic no how on how to run a country in the 21st century.
*know how
I support fully what Yamyn said in:
Since I’m sure there’ll be a lot of creationists reading this, let me try to establish some undisputed facts that must be kept in mind.
1) Evolution does not claim to explain the “origin of life”. It explains why there is so much diversity in species.
2) Evolution is biology. Big Bang Theory is cosmology. They are not the same.
3) Evolution is a well-established scientific theory. There is an overwhelming consensus among biologists backed heavily by genetic and fossil evidence.
The “holes” in the theory raised by non-Scientists like Harun Yahya and Zakir Naik have been debunked thoroughly years ago, and has no scientific merit. At all.
4) Evolution has been officially adopted by even the most dogmatic and historically anti-Science establishment of the Catholic church – and now enjoys the Pope’s blessings.
5) The Big Bang theory is also an overwhelming consensus. But, as with any physics theory, it doesn’t necessarily have to be “real” in the usual sense.
A scientific “theory” is just a model that best explains the behaviour of a system (say our universe) or a part of it, and can make predictions.
Tomorrow, we might across newer phenomenon or evidence, and need to either further refine the theory or devise a new theory to accommodate the new findings.
6) Lastly, and most importantly, a modern scientific theory is not just a hunch someone in a lab coat came up with. These things are subject to controlled experiments and peer reviews by other scientists and researchers around the world.
To equate their hard work, painstaking research and quest for knowledge with the blind stupidity of conspiracy website crawling idiots (like our Adhaalath Mullahs and their minions appear to be) is just insulting.
The Adhaalath should issue an apology for these kind of mind numbing stupid statements.
I’m glad there are organizations like MAAS that have taken the initiative to lecture students and promote Science and learning.
It should hopefully help in arming our
children with enough enlightenment to resist the Mullahs’s efforts to bring in an age of ignorance.
and here is (your prophet) Muhammed's Flat earth theory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FaNg_nxqns
first there was nothing
and nothing happened to nothing
and nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason what so ever in to self replicating bits which that turned in to dinosaurs.
makes perfect sense doesn't it.?
Erroneous Science and Contradictions in the Quran
http://www.islam-watch.org/SyedKamranMirza/Erroneous-Science-and-Contradictions-in-Quran.htm
for someone who knows this association well, i'm not suprised that the anti-islam issue came up. because their agenda is as such.
for a country where even the foreign non-muslims respect the juma prayer time, this association goes on planning a party right at juma prayer time for sighting a solar eclipse.
their work is less to do with advancing science but more to do with spreading suspiousness regarding faith in the hearts of muslims.
Question for Adhaalath; instead of evolution, what should we believe? That Adam and Hawwa dropped to Earth somewhere in Arabia and had kids, who then committed incest in order to populate the Earth? What a laugh. I'd rather believe in Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth.
Yaamyn,
Dammit! The kafaru crusaders add pig serum into vaccines to subvert our religion and humiliate muslims.
We must reject all of the crusader medicines, our children if taken away is the will of God and a test of our faith.
I'm just appalled to hear religious scholars speaking out against understanding. instead of that, just go and give lectures that push understanding and how science complies with Islamic principles.
I love how zakir naik does that. You are just left speechless after his lecture. If you try to keep the kids away from something, basic psychology dictates that teens would push towards just that.
You guys may very well have set them astray yourselves by denouncing something they were involved in. make amendments as soon as you can.
@ yaamyn
"1) Evolution does not claim to explain the “origin of life”."
This is wrong.
Evolution does assume that life originated in the same way -- ie by the random accumulation of its precursors.
3) "The “holes” in the theory raised by non-Scientists like Harun Yahya and Zakir Naik have been debunked thoroughly years ago, and has no scientific merit. At all."
Totally fasle.
The holes are very real and they are there. They have not been debunked by anyone.
"4) Evolution has been officially adopted by even the most dogmatic and historically anti-Science establishment of the Catholic church – and now enjoys the Pope’s blessings."
Actually Pope John Paul said something in its favour. This aroused much controversy in the Catholic Church. The current pope (Pope Benedict) does not approve of Pope John Paul's words.
"7) Those of you who reject evolution, should also learn to pretend that things like SARS and H1N1 do not exist, and must reject all form of vaccinations against these flu.
After all, these vaccinations/drugs are made with the basic assumption that evolution works."
No one disagrees that genetic mutations leads to change. What they question is whether such small changes can be attributed to evolution. They disagree that such changes can produce a human being after 3.5 billion years.
I think the examples of microevolution cannot be compared to the examples of macroevolution. All examples of macroevolution are extrapolations of events we categorise as microevolution.
@ Grand Mullah
I think you are being spoon fed. I also think you are being fed with the wrong spoon and you are oblivious to this.
The best way to check this would be by doing the research yourself instead of cutting and pasting the claims of the people who are misleading you.
My advice: Do not stop after doing a superficial read of the Qur'an and its interpretation. Do a thorough research of the very same verses you are talking about via your youtube video and the article.
The following website will be helpful to know how different translators of the Qur'an translate a single verse. The Qur'an is a Divine revelation. We are human beings.
http://www.islamawakened.com/Quran/default.htm
The people who are misleading you have only scratched the surface. They have not done a thorough research on what they are talking about.
Religion and Science were always at war. While religion is based on "faith", science (research) focus on reasoning. The "faithfulls" will never be convinced by logics of science - may be becoz majority of them dont see (never went) beyond their "holy books". Let our children be taught science, maths along with quran. Let them decide for themselves - when they grow up.
Monkeys got smart and now they trying to spread their monkey theories. What a theory. The most unrealistic theory that i have ever heard in my life. These monkeys are the most wicked people in this world. Hitler was one of this guy. He called himself as a christian but actually he was not a christian he was a monkey atheist.
Rooster
So, can you show me evidence that this Allah of yours exists?
Oh hey, why is the political prostitute adhaalath parteys whining about science? Shoudln't it be busy whoring itself off to the PPM now that it has lost Saudi support?
PS: Now I'm interested in this MAAS. I may check it out.
hilath is making a gang of parteys and threatening people who are calling him gay.
we also need to form such a gang and do the same against this hate website and its people.
Rooster,
"This is wrong. Evolution does assume that life originated in the same way — ie by the random accumulation of its precursors."
No. Some Biologists do. But it is not necessarily the theory of Evolution. Read more.
"The holes are very real and they are there. They have not been debunked by anyone."
Please fetch me these holes, and I'll debunk them for you with appropriate scientific sources.
"No one disagrees that genetic mutations leads to change. What they question is whether such small changes can be attributed to evolution. "
These are the kind of statements that stump me. Evolution demands small changes. Nobody went to bed one species and woke up as another.
Tiny changes, mutations, etc lead to variation and overtime, results in speciation. These variations combined with the idea that the fittest will survive and propagate their genes forms the very crux of the theory.
"They disagree that such changes can produce a human being after 3.5 billion years."
NO!! "They" don't disagree. YOU disagree.
"THEY", the scientific community that spends years and years on painstaking research, and analyzing evidence and carefully collected data have no are entirely in consensus. They have dug up fossils. They have produced techniques for dating them. They have used genetic markers to actually trace back the migration of humans from Africa. They have studied the anatomy and bone structures and morphology of animals and their organs, and see a perfect gradient as predicted by the theory. All of this is carefully examined, verified and peer reviewed and published in respectable journals. "THEY" have elegantly explained the evolution of the eye, "THEY" and pointed out similarities between the Whale and the land mammals.
YOU, on the other hand, listen to a few idiot and trawl a few conspiracy websites and think your ignorant assertions carry the same weight as scientific literature! What presumption!
To be very clear, "THEY" are not in any doubt or confusion. YOU are just blindly ignorant, and apparently proud of it.
we were sculpted from CLAY!! we did NOT evolve from an ancestor of the monkeys!
here what i suspect happened
in animation they use a thing call key frames to make it seem like motion but it is just a bunch of images
what god does first he sculpts a sperm & an egg (from clay) then give it life if those two connect, god sculpts something that seems like multiplying cells then he sculpts a pre fetus then fetus then on to a baby.
when god puts all this together like in animation it seems the motion of growing complex when it was just keyframe sculptures given life.
so the fossil record showed so many of these "keyframes" they assumed it as evolution "motion" but in reality god designed each & every thing individually!!
"Dhon Dhee Dhee"
If either you or the Adhaalath had bothered to get at least a high school grasp of the Evolution theory, you'd realize that it doesn't claim monkeys turned into humans.
The theory only suggests that modern monkey and modern humans had a common ancestor. So does the blue whale and humans. Or the tortoise and the fish.
The more you people use slogans like this that seem to celebrate your lack of education or rejection of knowledge, the more you drive a wedge between progress and Muslims as a whole.