Islam and politics are inseparable and it is unIslamic to suggest otherwise, President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed has announced.
”I regret that there are some MPs also who are claiming that politics and Islam should be separated, after taking a oath swearing that they would respect the religion of Islam,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”Politics and religion cannot be separated.”
State Minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed told Minivan News that Islam was a comprehensive religion containing information on economy, family, social, business, communication, politics, military “and many more things.”
Shaheem claimed that separating politics from religion was “a Christian philosophy from the 1940s.”
”The Christians at that time were influenced by the power of their kings and popes, ” Shaheem said, ”so they fought together for their rights and demanded the separation of religion from politics, and that was the time democracy was born.”
Shaheem noted that there were some principles of democracy which were contrary to Islamic principles.
”There are many things that are similar things and there are some things we refuse,” he said. “The resolution in democracy is ‘to keep the religion separated from the state.”’
The Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) was also a good politician, Shaheem explained.
”Those who suggest religion should be separated from politics are not apostates,” he said. “They are only saying such things because of their lack of knowledge.”
He said the Islamic Ministry was a part of the government and the government cooperated the ministry.
The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the Adhaalath Party was “power hungry” in accusing the government of secularism.
Newspaper Miadhu today reported Adhaalath party member Sheikh Ilyas Hussain as saying the government had forgotten the Adhaalath’s Party’s role in the country’s democratic transition and that the presence of the party was one of the reasons the new government had been accepted.
If dialogue failed to keep the government on the right path, Sheikh Illyas warned, the party would “not hesitate to fight against this government like we did the last one.”
He further claimed there were groups within the country that had begun challenging the party’s efforts to promote Islam, and that such trends were bringing the party’s patience to an end.
Zuhair claimed some of the party’s scholars were “directly lying to the people.”
”We support the work they are doing politically, because according to the new law any political party with less than 3000 members should be disbanded. If so, how are they supposed to be in the government if they are not a political party?”
He said the government had provided mosques for people, appointed Imams to the mosques and established the Islamic Ministry.
”We do not know why they are saying all this about the government,” he said. ”We can’t worship in our offices.”
Zakir Naik
In response to concerns about the religious qualifications of visiting Islamic speaker Zakir Naik, who is a medical doctor, Shaheem explained that Naik “is not a a preacher but a lecturer”, and his talks in the Maldives would not contravene the Religious Unity Act.
”The law says that anyone is allowed to give sermons with the permission of the Islamic Ministry,” he explained.
”We have researched his CV, and he is man who has knowledge of Islam and has written many books on Islam as well.”
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Is Adhaalaath the custodian of Islam in Maldives? There is no justification for them to threaten the current government given their pathetic position in the parliament in the number of their members.
They are a group of power hungry wolves trying to grab power and deceiving public by sacrificing Islam.
Maa meehun basbuneifi dhen nuvaanei vaahaka dhakaakaves, Islamic ministry do nothing other than practicing extremist excessive in the Maldives, We need to reconsider what's good for us
”We can’t worship in our offices.” Press Secratary Zuhair. Seriously, not even the 5 obligatory prayers?
"Newspaper Miadhu today reported the party’s deputy leader Sheikh Ilyas Hussain as saying the government had forgotten the Adhaalath’s Party’s role in the country’s democratic transition and that the presence of the party was one of the reasons the new government had been accepted."
Dear Nazeer, Sheikh Ilyas Hussain is not their deputy leader. He is the Vice-President of "Ilmuvering ge Majlis". Thought of pointing out the difference!
Shaheem's statement that the separation of law and politics originated in the Christian tradition in 1940's is false. In fact, beginning from the Umayyad dynasty, throughout the Abbasid Caliphate and into modern day in many Islamic empires and countries, politics and Islam have remained separate. The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad for this reason: that the leaders were not spiritual leaders. In the end, the Abbasid caliphs too handed over religious affairs to the 'Ulama.
i think couple of scholars are working on Maldivians last nerve! i Rest of the 290,999 citizens of this population is getting impatient..
How some people can get so arrogant and imposing just by using religion..
you know one of these days the rationals can't take this shit in this country anymore and legally remove these vermins from the political offices..
little power you gave to them president Anni, now they (just couple of beardies) are all over the place.. What a shame!
it is clear and evident the government is promoting secularism, take a look at anni's speech at donnor conference
http://maldivesbuscador.blogspot.com/2010/04/president-nasheeds-stand-against-islam.html
I voted for MDP, but as long as Adhaalath remains part of MDP, I will never vote for MDP again EVER!
Adhaalath is not promoting Islam, it's promoting Salafi/Wahabism, turning Mdv into Dhivehistan.
It's a shame that they get 16 Mio USD for their budget to develop Million-Rufiyaa mosques in islands with 2000 inhabitants while the prophet himself prayed under a thatch roof.
I would like to see Maldives becoming a secular state, without being "un-Islamic" as Ilyas said to Miadhu, and without being atheistic.
I believe Islam would prosper more than ever if it was being practiced voluntarily, if women were given the same rights as men, if child abuse could never been labelled as legal, if homosexuals would not be declared as inferior, and if our minds were not suppressed. Under the Sharia, despite experiencing a soft version of it's full cruel enforcement, this country will never develop, just like other Sharia countries.
I'm waiting for the day the Maldives do not claim any reservations to the declaration of human rights.
However, this day will not come soon. Till then, Adhaalath will continue spreading nonsense, invite radical pseudo scholars, and the number of black full-body condoms (which I'm sure is not a female's dream to be!) will rise.
Dhonkaloo Zeit!!!
You are highly mistaken to assume you are living in a secular country or a western country!! Remember a couple of mislead and drunk or gay politicians may have secularist or athesist wild fantasies and some "young politicians" may follow these drunk or gay or athesits..THE REST of Maldivians though they may not pray 5 times ..STILL MALDIVIANS LOVE ISLAM!!! And when you call beardies.mind u ..u are calling that not to the intolerant or ill informed "Maldivian muslims"..but also tolerant and educated (probably more educated than you)!! So stop steriotyping people and SHUT YOUR MOUTH..IF WANN CONTRIBUTE TO THIS DISCUSSION..SAY SOMETHING USEFUL AND CONSTRUCTIVE! Just becoz you cannot drink alcohol freely in Male' cafe's or give french kiss to you same sex partner doesn't mean to flush out your anger to ordinary peaceful citizens! Go do something useful!
next they'll be telling us Hadiths say only shameen and his ladyfriends can run maldives
These religious zealots are going from bad to worse. The good name of Islam gets tarnished whenever these people speak!
Islam doesn't need these morons as its guardian. I say, lets revert to Buddhism! We'll all be far better off.
Ibn Rushd was the father of secularism. It is neither islamic or christian. it is a human idea, just like democracy. democracy is incomplete without it.
the constitution never says we should follow the wahhabi sect. other forms of islam allows secularism and great scholars support it.
These events might be signs that the religious situation in MALE' is coming to head. Not that liberal intellectual elites exist in more than fistfuls elsewhere in this country. Therefore, support for secularism might not be as widespread as one may hope.
Shaheem's comments are particular to the Maldivian situation although he makes it sound like a general truth. Religion is inseparable from politics as long as a state religion is part of the Constitution AND while religious pluralism is banned under law.
The MDP cannot deny that its policies are mostly pluralist, although they do not have the luxury of publicly saying so. These pluralist policies may plant the seed of secularism in the hearts and minds of those with access to better education in this country. Even those who have received a proper education which inherently espouses the creation of a pluralist, cosmopolitan and tolerant society, complications arise when certain youths who are exposed to the same education experience poverty, marginalization, poor parenting as well as teacher-student relations. Therefore the picture with regards to education might not be as straightforward as one may hope.
Pluralism, however, has come to stay in the Maldives, with differing views about what constitutes the tenets and fundamentals of Islam opening the door to rejection of state control with regards to religion. Societies often regress so its hard to say, but one might not be wrong in making the observation that the window of opportunity might lead to the natural, or otherwise, development of a secular state and society in the Maldives.
The following Fathawa has been issued from DEOBAND ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY FROM INDIA(DHARUL ULOOM DHEOBAND)please click this link for more infomation
http://darulifta-deoband.org/viewfatwa.jsp?ID=7077
Question: 7077 Afghanistan Asalamu Alikum wb our respected scholars of Islam, My question is regarding the famous daee of Islam Dr.Zakir Naik whether the method & way of his preaching,debating, studing different religons' scriptures are valid in the light of Quran & Hadith or not, and should Muslims learn his Dawah techniques or not? what are the particular things in his work that are against Islam? please send me a private email.
Answer: 7077 21 Aug, 2008 (Fatwa: 1541/1322=B/1429)
The statements made by Dr Zakir Naik indicate that he is a preacher of Ghair Muqallidin, he is of free mind and does not wear Islamic dress. One should not rely upon his speeches.
Allah (Subhana Wa Ta'ala) Knows Best
Darul Ifta, Darul Uloom Deoband
Shaheem brings out the age old cliche used in Maldives, 'it was invented by christians'. Anything they don't like or they think is a threat automatically becomes christian, even though our book says we should respect people of the book religions. These guys give Islam a bad name and do a disservice by trying to demonize christianism at every turn.
Shaheem should once and for all decide wheather he wants to be an out of touch extremist, or a modern day scholar with the ability to contribute to a tolerant society like Islam really advocates.
And yes nowhere does it say we have to follow wahhabism, which all these guys are promoting.
Adhaalath is sounding more and more like a power hungry bunch with this Shaheem's rantings.
It is clear that these people in the shape of self-styled Imams has very little interest in decent governance or the honest teaching of our religion.
Shaheem is quite clearly as well as his brothers, seeking the highest office in the land, they speak untruths when the say that religion and politics cannot be separated, what they are really saying is they do not want them to be separate, for they would yield less power in their propaganda.
Just look at what they say and ask yourselves who does their style both appeal to or directly benefit? Is it the majority of our culture or more the extreme amongst us? The continue to ask us to distrust anyone outside of our religion or country and yet happily continue to bring in hordes of foreign tourists to enjoy pleasures and commodities Shaheem would have us believe we can only enjoy in Heaven scooped from rivers.
We ask only this of any politician, make our government accountable and speak the truth, be honest and also thankful that God has provided us with such a beautiful home that others would wish to come here for pleasure and sustain our economy and feed our people.
Think people, think, what are these men really hiding from us and who do they truly serve with their stories?
”The Christians at that time were influenced by the power of their kings and popes, ” Shaheem said, ‘’so they fought together for their rights and demanded the separation of religion from politics, and that was the time democracy was born"
Perhaps the Muslims of this time and place (2010:Maldives) is 'influenced' by the power of our kings and Popes (Shaheem? Ilyas? Rasheed?)! And perhaps, just perhaps, democracy will be born here in the Maldives? Just a thought.
I think its other way around some brain washed maroons are trying to erase Islam from our nation....InshaAllah we will not let them do this....to our nation...
It is obvious that islam is a part of politics. because both of these talks about way of living. certainly there are differences. but cannot be seperated. however some people thing that a person with a beard and stuff is a wahhab. do any one who he is. a sunni muslim must be following the hadiths of Mohamedh (RSAW). I am here to defend my religion. it does not mean bomb blast and sucide attacks. with a pen we could do alot more. and true Adhaalath party has the moral obligation to aware people on islam. because they have got more people with the knowlegde of islam. one more thing if any one doubts about the ability of zakir naik, certainly that person has doubt on islam. or he actually dont watch Peace TV. how many bishops and proffesors from other religion has lost debates with him. thats what count. if a person is spreading the word of truth, some people could not digest it. because they cannot have a bear, and kiss the same sex partner on the roads of male'. remember what Allah has told. If a land is full of sin, they won't live in peace. that is what has happend in my country. Allah save me from this land and guid us to the right path
Hollow man I have to ask you: do YOU watch Peace TV? If so, then did you notice that these guys are sometimes preaching exactly the opposite of each other?
Yusuf Estes in his Deen Talk explains why the big bag theory could never be right, because - JUST AS IF - you throw a glass on the ground it will "shatter in thousand pieces" and it will be "mess", and the universe is "in orbits" and the world in order which could never be come out of "mess". Just like a "tornado messing through a junkyard will never produce a brand-new Mercedes".
An then? Zakir Naik himself explaining that the big bang, which "gave raise to galaxies, the sun, the moon, the earth" theory was actually "already mentioned in the quran, 1400 years ago". (just like everything else, according to him, was "first" mentioned 1400 years ago, ignoring the advances in science, medicine, astronomy, trigonometry of the ancient Greek A.C.)
HELLO??? Are they reading the same book??? Two "scholars" broadcasted on the SAME channel talking two completely versions of nonsense!
This is just one of many errors I found in his speeches/on his TV channel. Spreading nonsense to the people! Once he said "Galileo was sentenced to death" - nonsense! "Darwin wrote a letter to XY in the year XY saying that he never believed in natural selection" - nonsense!
His famous probability calculations: nonsense!
His explanation why a man can marry up to 4 wives: because there are more women in this country than men, and before "a sister that doesn't find a man becomes public property, she is better married off to a married man". Ha!(that's at least up to you whether nonsense or not)
His channel is by far the most entertaining one on Airtel!
Wonder what the MIA is paying for his show in Male'.
hehe..iliyaz says he will fight to bring this government down and elect who DRP??. Im happy with that cause then iliyaz will be in Jail for the next fiver years. Cause people like iliyaz and fareed is not of any importance to DRP with its own moderate scholars and immams widely accepted by the youth and women. So yes yes pls. start working to bring this government then Maldives would be free form extremists.
this is getting interesting the more the mullaz come out and spread there crazy propaganda and the desires of young boys in heaven the better chances that the moderate politicians will think ok!! its time for a secular state or we will run out of office and get replaced by mullaz. And about ilyas he is grieving that he never got a seat in the parliament despite the prayers to bring maumoon down. He also should realize that it was Jomuhuree Parties weight that adhlaath even got a chance to be in the coalition otherwise they would be with Islamic democratic party not with the most liberal and secular party in the Maldives.
Why did nt shaheem talk about an Islamic state than talk about the US. Maybe he could have talked about how suadhi royal family managed to separate religion form there private life (they were to corrupt to think of their people so they thought of them self). When the war between imams of Saudi and the royal family started the end deal was the imams will leave the royal family alone and the royal family will fund the spread of fundamentalism around the world. Now with this deal Islamic policing in Saudi is limited to local people and royal family is kept out of it and they have the right to party throughout the world and carry vodka inside ether hijabs only a few prince stay sober for 12 hours. The last stop for a delegation of the prince was Maldives at one and only reethi rah island and spa and they were accompanied by shaheem himself I hear.
The tone is as one intoxicated with power and lust for more power, "We have limited patience with those who are not blah blah Islam ..." I am reminded of a scene from Star wars, darth vader says too the General or Lietenant, "yes, but the Emperor is less forgiving than I..."
darth vader Anni says to the likes of the liberal bloggers, well, you can form your own front against the extremists" and then Anni says, but the Emperor, Sheikh Hussein is less forgiving than I...
@beardies and clean shaved women on Tue, 20th Apr 2010 12:10 AM
It seems you have been a real role model. very constructive without name calling:)
Goodluck with your brand of Islam!
Maldives should remain as Maldives with the culture and beliefs inherited from its original settlers. We should not heed these medieval Mullahs. These Mullahs are the result of today’s civilization that made them to go out of Maldives. Sadly they ended up in back ward countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and brought back these horrible teaching that has plunged Iran like civilization in to darkness. Those few in Maldives who are intellectuals should go for Jihad to get rid of these Mullahs and their false ideology,
tsk tsk oh my
what pray tell is up with adhalat?
To the fundies it shall be.
Which party next?
"one more thing if any one doubts about the ability of zakir naik, certainly that person has doubt on islam. or he actually dont watch Peace TV. " - hollow man
wow. so is he like your prophet, dude?
i just want to say secularism is not christian. the christian control freaks are just like the wahhabi adhaalath freaks...they want religion and politics to be one. the separation is necessary to save religion from being exploited by power hungry con-artists like gayoom, fareed, shaheem..etc. these people are human beings and cannot be trusted with such power. ofcourse, the prophet was a politician too....but he was the prophet. he was infallible. these wahhabis are not. infact they have proved that they will USE religion for their benefit. hello...no protest against kicking out the pork/alcohol bill? airtel dish was haraam and then halaal? money from selling alcohol can be legalized by spending it in sewage system? maumoon was a kafir? adhaalath party must be in an iranian style religious council? any party in power MUST have adhaalath party in their government?
if you guys cant dig this....here is something for ya. in gayoom era, wahhabis were tortured for just following that sect. why? apparently because gayoom was protecting islam from them. and now....adhaalath is doing the samething to traditional islam. they think wahhabi islam is the 'correct form of islam'. but if and when DRP win the next election...afrasheem might be incharge of islamic ministry...then perhaps sufi islam will become the 'correct form of islam' again.
basically we have to change our beliefs and religious practices everytime a new government is elected or a new bunch of sheikhs are put incharge of the islamic ministry. now that, is BS. it is not islamic, it is not democratic. secularism is, democratic and islamic....and it is perfectly legal to openly promote and call for a secular state in maldives. if you cant digest opposing views, please go live in saudi arabia or afghanistan. you cant kill the voices for freedom ever again on these islands.we wont wait another 30 years to experience your tyranny.
WTF!!! Every individual in Maldives (women,men,children) have participated and fought to bring this democracy here to ensure government to do whats best for Maldives and its citizens as well as freedom. Adhaalath is not the reason we accept. We stood up for our rights if we have to we will stand again. Islam and politics has to be separated. you can teach what you believe but you cant make me believe your crap. What is he? A prophet.
@moyameeha
There are ( i suppose) many maldivians who are not sure when asked if Zakir is a prophet. some of my colleagues at work think, he (naik) is in deed is an equivelant figure and no one can be sure because we are near dooms day "fahuzamaanu" so he could actually be... im sure if asked many maldivians train of thought would be such.
This is what i stand agaist. This is a deliberate result of religious zealots dumming down the public.
I used to think if someone in this technological age started claiming to be a prophet, people would not believe, but look whats happening here. Zakir don't even have to call himself a prophet and many here are going 'well he is approximately a prophet, he certainly has the knowledge like no one on earth and looks cute'...
Our critical faculties are being shutdown and this is what religious leaders, not religions, but religious leader be it ilyas, gayoom, baree, fareed or pope exploits..
Ilyas, i warn you, if you keep dumming down the public with your filthy and arrogant, bigoted messages, there will be consequences on your future generations.
When Sheik Shaheem pointed out that those in Europe which wanted freedom from religious control by Popes and Kings started democracy, he is correct, but this is what he did not seem to understand...It was NOT to be free from moral obligation that the Christian puritans (who are the democrats he referred to) broke free from the King or Pope, it was to be able to practice moral obligation without restraint. The Pope and King were preaching and demanding the masses to practice corruption. The Pope demanded indulgences for forgiveness for the temporal punishment of sins, for oneself and for the dead in purgatory. This was the greed the erarliest Protestants resisted and the English who really fought for democracy wanted freedom from the absolute tyranny of the greed of Kings, as excessive power and greed were an affront to God... Democracy as originally intended was fought for on two fronts, for the freedom to practice a much stricter form of morality on behalf of the Protestants and for the middle classes to have economic power...
Once, Dr. Shaheed (Foreign Minister of The Maldives) whose very eloquent and spiritual form of Islam reminds of the Sufi's (or at least the Mutazilite philosophers or the Asharite philosophers of the Abbasid run Ummah) pointed out that the reverse was true in the Muslim world. Indeed, at one point in history, morality improves if state controls religion in the Muslim world because Islam was THE power - the vehicle for freedom from oppression and religion had to be used by the Government (the powers that were)to unify, empower and co-ordinate the fight for moral freedom. Islam was the strongest felt force and the only power capable of generating effective resistance in the Maldives. In this sense, Maldivians generally love Islam. However, the Islam of the Thakarafaanu dynasty which threw out the oppressors incorporated a lot of practices which the Adhaalath would consider innovation (bid'a..).
However, I feel, that if we study the reality of what is happening now in the name of trying to keep up an image of being Muslim to gain power, we see that Islam is being abused, corrupted and morality is being degraded by the persistent practice of unifying Islam and the State.
Maldivians are the most intelligent and sensitive people I have ever met, make no mistake about that, but yet...this need to appear Muslim is destroying the character of the Maldivian and making them people not worth knowing...People are not more moral in this great Muslim society, they are just more deceptive than those in the Western world because they do as many drugs and have as much illicit sex as those elsewhere but have become masters of concealing it due to fear of being flogged and or/ socially alienated... The art of deceit and dishonesty is an unadknowledged yet integral element of a modern Muslim society. This creates a feeling of mistrust, of suspicion, of hate and disunity which is tearing maldivian society apart...and that is the route of the backbiting etc... in the cabinet and between families...
oh