The Ministry of Islamic Affairs said draft regulations under the Religious Unity Act will incorporate recommendations by Jamiyathul Salaf to “protect and defend Islam in an Islamic state like the Maldives”.
In a letter sent to the Islamic association yesterday, the ministry said recommendations made by Salaf earlier this month were already included in the regulations currently being reviewed by the attorney general’s office.
“The purpose of the regulations that have been drafted is to protect the country and Maldivian society from brutal and harsh practices, divisions and antagonism in the name of Islam and from practices that contradict Islam and Islamic culture,” it reads.
The 11 recommendations made by Salaf included removing anything that conflicts with Islam from the education curriculum or subject syllabuses, making it an offence to spread other religions and openly sell or possess any items that symbolise religious holidays of other religions, and specifying measures to be taken against expatriate teachers found to be promoting other religions or inciting hatred of Islam among students.
Moreover, the proposed regulations should empower the authorities to check printing presses and bookshops for material in conflict with Islam, and make it an offence to publish such opinions or views in the media.
Salaf also recommended obligating non-Muslim visitors to inhabited islands to adhere to a code of dress and conduct appropriate to an Islamic environment.
Furthermore, the regulations should ensure that photos and videos used in advertisements do not clash with Islamic codes of behaviour and make it illegal to introduce elements of foreign cultures that conflict with Islam.
Salaf’s recommendations further call for specifying penalties for those who openly “challenge or defy” God, his Prophet or Islamic shariah, and make it an offence to disrespect the Prophet or his companions.
Lastly, Salaf recommends the creation of a council to take measures against people who issue religious fatwas (edicts or decrees) without the requisite education or learning.
Unless these recommendations are incorporated in the regulations, Salaf’s letter states, it would be “meaningless” and could “open doors” to other religions and cultures.
Salaf claimed action was not taken against Christian missionaries under the old regulations, and were instead used to “punish, jail and torture” Maldivians who “loved Islam and tried to find the right path”.
The letter goes on to recommend that the proposed rules are put up for a public discussion among religious scholars.
In response the letter from the Islamic Ministry, signed by State Minister Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, states that the president’s office, Maldives Police Service and experienced religious scholars were consulted during the drafting process, which spanned six months.
The letter goes on to say the ministry regrets that Salaf has been criticising the ministry and attempting to “mislead the public” about its policies instead of offering either assistance or constructive help.
Moreover, it reads, the ministry regrets that Salaf’s president Abdullah bin Ibrahim Mohamed refused an invitation to join the Fiqh academy or help draft Friday sermons.
“But ultimately, even if you do it from afar, we believe sharing such counsel is a good step for the future and we are grateful for it,” it reads.
Salaf responded to the letter today, thanking the ministry for assuring the association that its recommendations were already in the regulations.
“What remains now is the wait for the regulations to become enforced,” Salaf replied.
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I not answerable to anyone here or anywhere whatever except Allah. I have expressed my views on extremism as thats my freedom to express my views. I will express my views as I desire and wish.
Lordhexter, is that you think a mightier name. You hide behind a screen and act scholarly and all above. You can attack personally and try to undermine me but that doesn’t affect me one bit. Anybody can make spelling and grammatical mistakes as I can see in your writing as well. Perfection can be only with holiness and I don’t think you are an affiliation. You will never get me to stop in my course with Allah's will. You can spit and heave whatever like the fundamentalist like all others who are steadfast in your extremist views and do not listen to others. You guys think you are right while others are wrong.
Dear Afiya, u can only say BlAA BLAAA BLAAAAA! Thats all u can do n make false accusation against who practice according to Quran, Sunnah of prophet S.A.W and scholar's Ijma'a and Giyas. Such people are who mock against Qur'an and Sunnah of prophet S.A.W but they dont know it. And you are like those people who mock against the Qur'an n Sunnah of prophet S.A.W. And on the other hand you dont have any proof. What has happened to you is that you believed what the Western countries and their media say abt Islam (i.e. who practice according to Qur'an n Sunnah) unlike you.
So dont try to show ur smartness to us. And ur time is coming to end day by day, minute by minute and second by second. And do think of the trails at the time of death.
@afiya
Just by saying that you are only answerable to Allah, that’s not a reasonable argument. Everyone is answerable to Allah. But even on earth you have to answer because when you do something and then, when you are questioned you can’t say “I not answerable to anyone here or anywhere whatever except Allah.” that’s not correct and this again shows you lack of Islamic knowledge. Yes obviously you have expressed you views on extremism I agree with that, the only thing I asked you were, what is extremism in your point of view? Define it in a word or two.
The statement “I will express my views as I desire and wish.” Is contradicting with the above statement of yours “I not answerable to anyone here or anywhere whatever except Allah.” for verily he who knows he/she would be questioned on the Day of Judgment would not lie about his/her religion and God. When you talk about Islam you should have knowledge about it or you would make mistakes and those mistakes would become statements against what Allah have sent down. That’s the reason why Islam see the importance of education.
وَلا تَقُولُوا لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هَذَا حَلالٌ وَهَذَا حَرَامٌ لِتَفْتَرُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لا يُفْلِحُونَ (١١٦) )سورة النحل)
116. And speak not, concerning that which your own tongues qualify (as clean or unclean), the falsehood: "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so that ye invent a lie against Allah. Lo! those who invent a lie against Allah will not succeed.
That’s the reason why I’m calling upon you and asking not to talk without proper Islamic education about Islam like the non Muslims and not to accuse the scholars, because you have no idea even if they are right or not.
I have explained above answering to a question someone asked me about my name I believe it’s clear. I don’t think it is a mighty name nor was it my intention, “lordhexter” is my pen name, there are several reasons good reasons why it is there and it is somehow connected to my personal life. Well if you have read my blog and the comments which followed after the articles you would have an idea of who I am. Whoever comments on this page I believe is behind a screen, but that does not mean he/she is hiding. Never did I accuse you for that, but there is the chance of just someone identifying him/her self by the name “afiya” and making childish arguments.
I do not act scholarly and I never had identified myself as a scholar. For your information, I’m a practicing lawyer and at the moment a student at Faculty of Sharia at the university of International Islamic University of Madina, KSA. I talk of things I know, not from things I feel are right or a bit of an upset stomach deep down.
I agree I make mistakes and when someone point it out I don’t feel they are trying to demotivate me or they have a personal grudge against me, but I see them as friends who want me to learn and correct me. There are people who are disagreeing with me on the very basics of my religion and never did I felt any harm and never did I believe that their intention was other than just correcting me.
Again you have mentioned fundamentalism, that’s the reason why I’m asking, would you simply define your understanding of the word, cause fundamentalism in English means
“Fundamental \Fun`da*men"tal\, a. [Cf. F. fondamental.]
Pertaining to the foundation or basis; serving for the foundation. Hence: Essential, as an element, principle, or law; important; original; elementary; as, a fundamental truth; a fundamental axiom. [1913 Webster]”
So if you would like to go against the basics of Islam (fundamentals of Islam) and the people who are adhered to the Fundamentals of Islam (fundamentalists) than you are simply saying that Quran and Ahadhith are not to be followed. The western media says fundamentalists in its true meaning and it’s the obvious truth, they don’t like people to follow Islam, they don’t mind you labeling yourself as a Muslims as long as you don’t follow Islam.
وَلَنْ تَرْضَى عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلا النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللَّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ وَلِيٍّ وَلا نَصِيرٍ (١٢٠) )سورة البقرة)
120. And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah's guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper.
I ask you, what is the guidance Allah sent for humankind? Is it not the Quran and the prophet (Ahadhith), are they not the very basics of Islam the very fundamentals of Islam. I don’t mind you not answering these Questions here but think about this. How much of Allah’s Quran do you know, and from the parts you have memorized how much do you know the meaning of, without the help of translation, how many Hadhith do you know, how many times did you think before doing something what is the Islamic ruling on that?
Regarding “following your heart and the deep down desires and feelings”
I know my words are nothing
Allah says:
يَا دَاوُدُ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاكَ خَلِيفَةً فِي الأرْضِ فَاحْكُمْ بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ وَلا تَتَّبِعِ الْهَوَى فَيُضِلَّكَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَضِلُّونَ عَنْ سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ بِمَا نَسُوا يَوْمَ الْحِسَابِ (٢٦)(سورة ص)
26. O Dâwûd (David)! Verily! we have placed You as a successor on earth, so judge You between men In Truth (and justice) AND FOLLOW NOT YOUR DESIRE for it will mislead You from the Path of Allâh. Verily! those who wander astray from the Path of Allâh (shall) have a Severe torment, because they forgot the Day of reckoning.
And Allah says
وَأَمَّا مَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى (٤٠)فَإِنَّ الْجَنَّةَ هِيَ الْمَأْوَى (٤١) (سورة النازعات)
40. but as for Him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure desires, and lusts.
41. Verily, Paradise will be his abode.
Afiyaa,
Osama bin Laden maybe a terrorist but maybe he had killed so many people and terrorized the western communities.But its sad that someone who knows Islam that well is blind to the atrocities and massacres conducted by western governments.DID THE AMERICANS FIND NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN IRAQ.IF NOT WHO IS GONNA TAKE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WHO DIED DURING THE UN SANCTIONS.WHO IS GONNA BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MEN WOMEN RAPED IN ABU GURAIB.WHO IS GONNA BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THOUSANDS WHO WERE INCINERATED BY WHITE PHOSPHORUS.
SO OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE THE REALITY.THIS IS REAL TERRORISM.YOU ARE FAILING TO SEE THIS.THIS SHOWS THAT YOU ARE EYED.
if Saddam is executed for war crimes than gorge w bush should be too. still not WMD in iqar and the ppl responsible for abu guraib never punished thousands of innocent ppl subjected to it human treatment in Guantanamo. i think afiya is stupid or just another friends of maldives minivan news staff who's brain is washed.
afiya cant give facts and proof and keeps on repeating the same thing and claims she knows everything always and she can say anything she wants blah blah blah... what a craxy girl. i bet she even dont know how to read Quran. she muxt be one of those "wanna be Europe"girls lol get a life. neyngunas anga hulhuvaathi. miyothee vaa kameh eachekey meehakubunefi meenage feelings hurt vey noonee zaathieegothun meena undermine kuranee. thivaru meehun mikahala thanthaa anga nuholhuvaanee.
who is this Fathimath Afiya???
@afiya
can you identify your self
So Taliban is having secret meetings in Maldives. The fundamentalists here needs to be kept a close watch in the future. Its a great sign to the Maldivians of the danger of the rising Islam fundamentalism. Maldives is under threat because of the fundamentalists, we cannot let it go so easily.
Isnt it easy to change names when you comment here so it looks like many are following similar discourse.
Fathimath Afiya, i would love to read ur reply to Lordhexter.
dont be shy! or "cat got ur fingers??"
well i am into shia, a twelver, a sufi, so that mean under this regulations i will be regulated?
this is absurd...the only thing the democratic party seems to be promoting is an anti-demococratic ideology.
to defend Islam is to deprive us of natural rights? teach bullshit in schools? gender inequality? tyranny at its most. maybe we should have just let golhaa rule...I for one am really having doubts now...
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The Meaning of Islam
"ISLAM" is derived from the Arabic root salaama peace, purity, submission and obedience. In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law.
Everything and every phenomenon in the world, other than man and jinn is administered totally by God-made laws, they are obedient to God and submissive to His laws, i.e. they are in the state of Islam. Man possesses the quality of intelligence and choice, thus he is invited to submit to the good will of God and obey His law, i.e. become a Muslim. Submission to the good will of God, together with obedience to His beneficial law, i.e. becoming a Muslim, is the best safeguard for man's peace and harmony.
Islam dates back to the age of Adam and its message has been conveyed to man by God's Prophets and Messengers including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Islam's message has been restored and enforced in the last stage of the religious evolution by God's last Prophet and Messenger Muhammad.
The word ALLAH in the Arabic language means God, or more accurately The One and Only Eternal God, Creator of the Universe, Lord of all lords, King of all kings, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful. The word Allah to mean God is also used by Arabic speaking Jews and Christians.
so why is there so many forms of islam? sunni? shia? sufi? salafi? quranists? and loads and loads like 5% nations?
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, RELIGION, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance
is Maldives excluded? if so, why?
cause we are more MONKEY than HUMAN?????
Stranger, you believe in human rights created by Westerners in 1948. Allah SW provided us with all that way back in the 7th century.
of which we are seeing happen now. regulations contrary to islamic tenets being given clearance.???
@Zayan: Is that so?. Where are they now?.
Dear Mudkip, u asking where are they now? i wud ask u first r u BLIND? read the Quran first!!! Read the Hadiths Books... u wil get the answer. Do u think the westerners brought the Human rites...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DEAR......Islam brought everyone's right even the animal rites way back in the 1400 yrs ago...So who r blind wont c it...n those who r deceived by the secularism wil not c it...My advice to al b4 opening ur mouth read n study wat is real Islam...not to listen how the Westerners describe Islam...And Mudkip dont try to be smart.
"mummu."
Hmph, your "sheikhs" quoting the quran cause more social problems than they're supposed to "fix". I've watched many a happy family get torn apart after one or another fell to their vile lies. And how many children continue to suffer grievous torment, in "the name of Islam"?
Hadith, huh. I've seen things in those books that would drive the barbarities of the Romans, the cruelties of the Spainards and the murderous rampages of the Mongols to shame.
Is that our "human rights"?.
We know what the Taliban has done in Afghanistan when they implemented "their version" of Islam. We are aware that the terrorist groups now haranguing our democratically elected government get their funding from heroin/opiate sales, slave trafficking and piracy.
And yes, you tell me not to try being smart. That puts you at complete odds with the word of Allah, which tells us to "Learn of things, seek knowledge in matters great and small." - we are not afraid of you. You come at us determined to change our country into another breeding colony, and we will defend our people, our nation and our children from the likes of you.
hey...to be a Muslim it doesn't mean we have to go to stone age...Even in olden days Europeans covered their bodies and wore long gown and veils.....Islam should not be regressive....As according to the times one has to change....In Islam clearly says we have to build the world....that means we have to be on par with others in the building blocks of each sector...And that includes fashion...Just because we are Muslims we should not give a blind eye to changing fashions and hide in long tunics and burqa....If we hide ourselves in such attire than we are going back times and we are making ourselves ignorant and regressive and unaware of the changing times....Allah has clearly said we have to prosper and conquer the time...we cant conquer the time if we hide our selves in dark tunics...For all these years we have had a moderate and progressive Islam like Morocco and Algeria....I have come across lots of Moroccans who doesn't force their women to wear burqa...when I questioned they told me that in Moroccan society "burqa" is not something in their culture and also they support progressive Islam not fundamental....And they being Arabs themselves have admitted that its the heart which is important...and a bearded man or his wife in hijab can be sinners too!...A clothing is not a sign post which makes a person a Muslim...Also they argued about shaving in pilgrimage so on...and concluded that beards is not a must....In medieval times even europians kept beards simply because its the fashion trend of that time and also razors and other grooming was not the order of the day...Those westerners and Hindus or Buddhists who covered their bodies in long tunics in those times cannot be termed as Muslims by judging how they dressed..Only the mind is the medium which will measure the belief or faith of the person
Maldives have had a typical Islam practiced by Moroccans( its only a coinsidence that a Moroccan converted the Maldives to Islam)....there was so much of Sufism..the mystic Islamic practices in Maldives too...And our great grand mothers never covered themselves in burqa but we cant judge the as lesser Muslims....Its their souls and hearts which is important...if they truly believed in Islam and its tenets than they are Muslims....
So salaf and adhaalath..don't try to bring a more Taliban like regressive and backward Islamic culture to the Maldives and try to rule the people with your pervasive ideology....Lets live according to Maldivian culture...we are not some Arabs...I say hear Arabs...because not all Arabs believe as these salaf or adhaalath people... live and let live....hehehe
@hope: You win 10,000 internets.
Live and let live... is a policy lost on the imperialistic Arabs.
I request all the members in minivan news to read translation of Quruan to enrich your knowledge.
yeh good, drive the maldives to civil war by making the divide between haabis and liberals deeper, idiots...
Oh! Come on! Every Islam hater!
Why do you need a church in Maldives ?
To pray or to PARTY?!
You can get party halls in Maldives, don't you guys worry. Try something innovative like underwater, maybe?
Ill be a bit of a soothsayer here, for events to come.
the current generation whom the majority (65%) did not even finish their Olevels, will go in to drugs, and they find salvation through religion, and by time become xenophobes towards those who do not practice islamic values as they do, which in turn will need a simple catalist to start a civil massacre, and many lives will be lost.
but this can be stopped if the government chose to fund for the education of the next generation to at least university standard, so they become immune to propaganda and will start to appreciate all creeds and religions, and start to do good for the sake of humanity and not religion.
i have alot i want to share but this community needs to read quite a range of books (both secular and theological views) and discuss within themselves what is knowledge. This whole episode is zeitgeist at play. And the latter is not a catch 22.