“You are swine” and “the children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine,” a tourist couple renewing their marriage vows in the Maldives were told in a ‘traditional Maldivian’ ceremony conducted in Dhivehi at Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort.
“Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel – and we have reason to believe –an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion,” the ‘celebrant’ tells the couple, who appear completely unaware of the humiliation they are being subjected to.
A 15-minute video of the ceremony was uploaded on YouTube on October 24 2010 by a member of staff. Vilu Reef Manager Mohamed Rasheed told Minivan News that the staff member who uploaded the video did it as “a joke”, without “realising the seriousness of the potential consequences”.
Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort advertises itself as a place where couples can renew their wedding vows “hand in hand against a golden sunset backdrop” and where their “everlasting love” can be sealed by a “kaleidoscope of romantic hues” that covers the sky during the sunset.
In the video the ‘celebrant’ briefs the couple in English, prior to the ceremony, that it will be conducted according to “not only Maldivian” but also “Arabic and Islamic” norms.
Two wedding rings inside an open coconut, which appears to be lined with mother of pearl, are in front of the couple along with two fresh coconuts. The couple seem dressed for the ceremony, the woman in white as favoured by Western brides.
“Don’t look at her chest”, a man – possibly the videographer – is heard saying as the woman leans over to take a sip from the coconut. She adjusts her neckline.
Men, about ten or more, surround the area both outside and inside the palm fronds, which appears to be a make-shift wedding venue.
The celebrant twirls his thumbs over a piece of paper that he appears to be studying with deep concentration. A male voice asks him if the document is “something new”. He replies that it is “the seventh Article of the Penal Code”.
The document, of which there is a brief close-up in the video, has absolutely no relation to marriage laws in the Maldives. Words that are legible on the document refer to “staff employment”, suggesting that it is a document relating to employment regulations.
Asking the couple and other ‘officials’ to raise their hands as is customary for Muslim prayers, the ‘celebrant’ begins his marriage vows.
“Fornication has been legalised according to Article six, 1.11 of the Penal Code”, he chants in a tone favoured by religious scholars. “That is, frequent fornication by homosexuals. Most fornication is by males,” he continues.
“Research has shown that men have a higher sex drive than women,” he says. “According to Article 8 to 6 of the Penal Code, converting to Islam, or circumcision, is not desirable under any circumstances.
“Germs of anger and hatred will breed and drip from the tips of your penises,” he says.
The ‘celebrant’ then switches from his improvised “Islamic and Maldivian marriage laws” to reading aloud from the document in front of him in the same ‘religious’ tone. This time, what he chants to the couple is to do with terms of employment.
When he returns to the ‘marriage vows’, he refers to certain Articles of the Constitution and combines ‘Section e” and “Section f” to create the word “balhu”, which in Dhivehi means “swine”. ‘E’ in Dhivehi is the letter ‘baa’ and ‘F’ the letter ‘lhaviyani’.
The ‘celebrant’ mixes the two letters to make the word ‘balhu’, the full version of which, as used by the ‘celebrant’, is ‘nagoo balhu’. The literal translation of the term is ‘crooked tail’, believed to refer to a pig’s tail, and is considered to be one of the worst insults in the Dhivehi language.
“You are swine according to the Constitution,” he declares, solemnly.
He then asks the couple to stand up and hold hands. The ‘officials’, too, stand up and place their hands on the couples’. They form a séance-like circle and the ‘celebrant’ begins chanting.
“Aleelaan, baleelaan…”, he begins. What he is chanting is not a verse from the Qur’an, or marriage vows in Dhivehi, but are the words of a popular Dhivehi children’s game.
Words of the game, too, are changed to say “black swine” instead of what is contained in the original.
“Before buggering a chicken, check if the hole is clean. That is because the people of the countries that you are from are familiar with the taste of the ****holes of chicken,” he chants, still with hands held over the couples’.
“Do not treat with kindness people against whom violence is being committed. Commit more violence against victims of violence. You are not people who have been sent to this world to commit violence.”
He then returns to the matter of staff salaries, which he continues to chant in the same tone as he had done the insults. “Do not complain too much about salaries, or matters regarding salaries. That is against the Penal Code. This is not something I am saying for your benefit – it is a law that we have made.”
He begins to chant loudly about “black swine”, stringing insult after insult and delivering it in the same rather ominous tone that Maldivian religious figures choose to deliver their sermons in.
“You fornicate and make a lot of children. You drink and you eat pork. Most of the children that you have are marked with spots and blemishes… these children that you have are bastards,” he continues solemnly.
Someone else is heard at this point to tell the ‘celebrant’ to “say a little bit more, and then quit.”
The concluding chant is delivered in a gentler, softer voice: “Keep fornicating frequently, and keep spreading hatred among people. The children you will have from this marriage will all be bastard swine.”
While the couple are putting rings on each other’s fingers, someone is heard saying that the recording should stop. “Don’t you worry about it,” says someone else, and the recording continues.
“Aren’t they going to suck mouth?” someone is heard asking. “Make them suck mouth”, it is urged. ‘Sucking mouth’ is a term used by Maldivians to denigrate the act of kissing.
“So now, in Maldivian law, in Islam, you are already married”, says the ‘celebrant’, returning to English. The hapless couple are then told to relax and enjoy the celebrations that are to follow, by the end of which a certificate of their nuptials will be ready for them.
Once the ceremony is concluded, the celebrant, who is dressed in a shirt and tie – with the shirt left to hang loose over a traditional Maldivian sarong – swaggers out of the makeshift wedding venue – tugging at his tie and proclaiming himself “President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed.”
The celebrant, Vilu Reef Manager Rasheed told Minivan News, is an assistant Food and Beverage Manager named Hussein Didi. As he leaves the wedding venue having concluded his job, someone announces his presence, as “Ghaazee Hussein Didi”.
A Ghaazee is the Arabic name for a judge or magistrate, also adopted to mean the same in Dhivehi.
People clap loudly as the couple, whose marriage vows have just been mocked in some of the filthiest language known to Dhivehi, are videoed making their way to the next part of their ceremony – the planting of a coconut tree to mark the occasion.
Various types of insults about the woman and the man, their clothing and demeanour, are being spoken throughout in the form of a running commentary in a sports video.
As the bride bends down to plant the coconut tree, a man is heard is exclaiming, “Can see her breasts!” The ‘commentator’ observes, “She is wearing something”, he knows, he says, “because my beard has gone grey watching those things… I have seen so many of them now that I don’t even want to look any more when I see them.”
The groom, who is watering the new coconut tree which they have just planted, is totally unaware of the manner in which his wife and her breasts are being discussed by the group of Maldivian men ‘officiating’ at the renewal of their wedding vows.
‘Celebrant’ Didi tells the couple they should return soon to check on the progress of their plant, testament to what had taken place on the island that day.
The video concludes with the ‘commentator’ repeatedly urging the ‘celebrant’ to make the couple ‘suck mouths, suck mouths’.
The resort’s Manager Rasheed was unable to tell Minivan News how much the occasion had cost the couple or where they were from.
Asked if the couple had been made aware of the nature of the ‘wedding vows’ they had taken, Rasheed said they had been sent pictures but not the video.
“Our package includes sending them pictures on the CD the very same night”, he said. Rasheed added that the resort does not have a written ‘khuthuba’ or sermon from which to read, nor is the role of the celebrant undertaken by a designated person.
“It is done on a rotating basis. We have been doing it for ten years now, and from a very small start, it has grown into a very successful part of what we offer at Vilu,” he said.
Rasheed said he had become aware of the nature of the ceremony conducted by Didi shortly after it happened. He had banned Didi from performing any more ceremonies, but did not feel it was necessary to take any further action, until the video appeared on YouTube.
The staff member who uploaded the video, Ali Shareef, a shop assistant, is not being disciplined or investigated further, Rasheed said. He complied with the request by the management to remove the video from YouTube.
The ‘celebrant’, Didi, however is currently under investigation by the Head Office in Male’, Sun Travel and Tours.
Minivan News has learned that the ‘wedding package’ offered by Vilu Reef Resort lasts an hour, costs US$1300 which includes the services of a ‘celebrant’, a sailing trip and Maldivian music and dancing.
The happy couple can obtain photographs of their beautiful ceremony in the Maldivian sunset on Vilu Reef Resort for an additional US$440.
CEO of Sun Travel Ahmed Shakir was unavailable for comment.
Warning: Video contains profanity
(1)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Police arrest ‘celebrant’ as President expresses disgust over false wedding ceremony- Sun Travels to compensate couple while police investigate ‘wedding ceremony’ video
- No staff complaints received following termination of Hilton management agreement: Tourism Ministry
- Cancellations and resignations after Iru Fushi Resort terminates Hilton contract
- A flavour of “real Maldivian life”: The Observer newspaper
- Maldivian cultural dances to be held at Expo 2012, South Korea
wow. what a shame, how this kind of act shows how little and infantile most Maldivians are.... Cant accept the smallest of difference ! I mean these people paid through thier noses to have thier wedding be celebrated and look what they got... bad day for Maldives tourism and a not so shining example of what majority of Maldivians are like !! Unfortunate but reality !
Maldivians hit new low.
A hilariously new low.
tsk tsk, typical maldivian making fun of those who are feeding them....the worst of kinds
Unbelievable, I am ashamed to call my self a Maldivian to day. People who did this are the true infidels and swines.
They should be fired, and no resort should give a job to them ever.
People like this give a bad name to Islam and Muslims.
So disgusting.
My apologies to the couple. I am indeed very very sorry.
The resort should be held responsible for not monitoring the services that they provide to the tourists and charging so much. Tourism Ministry and Police should investigate the case. I think many people who are concerned about this incident have reported it to Police, Tourism Ministry and the resort but it seems that they are taking it lightly. Resort management said they knew that the funny words were used during the wedding sermons so they were aware of it. Resort would have details of this criminal act but they are hiding the facts and trying to cover it up. If you don't take action, it needs to be reported to HRCM and Amnesty International.
Reality of Maldivians are coming out and this shame goes to all Maldivians. It shows how lame you are. These are the staffs directly in contact with tourists and they act as the face of Maldives... It is not only one individual involved here it is the management of the resort. The resort must be responsible for this. It shows we have no respect for humans and to our religion as well.
I am going back to Gan[Addu]next june for my 40th wedding anniversary,and I intend having my marriage blessed..I will not believe that any of my many friends on Addu ,would allow my wife and myself to be so disgracefully insulted..Those people that did that to that couple are a disgrace to the good people in the Maldives,along with the resort that condoned it..It may cost them very dearly when the story is known through-out the tourism industry...
I think the couple looked uneasy and do not look so happy as a married couple should be. I think they kind of felt that something was not right with the performance of the ceremony. Also the couple looked concerned about the happenings and organization the ceremony. Vilu Reef Resort thinks that they have a good business of offering wedding packages for 10 years but they sucks.
I feel simply sick and disgusted that I could not complete this article.
What the hell! What do you expect of these people.
Can they chant at their Boss's wedding just around the corner cos the man is insatiable and totally sick too after divorcing all his wives to marry an 18 year old whose mother he was courting earlier.
Its a shame...Even the whole company is built on sick pillars.
I hope Tourism Ministry takes this very seriously.
Plz, remove the vedio from u-tube. It is destroying the name of MALDIVES. Tourist comes to experience Maldives. Not vilu reef or any other Individual resorts even if it is 5star or 8star. Vilu reef must take action against them who did this. The social media is v strong today. It can cause serious damages to the tourism industry.
Oh come on, whats the big deal here, every one do these things, even these foreigners do these things. Look at Wikileaks documents they released this week, they are killing muslims for fun in Iraq and Afghanistan, if thats not a problem for many of them, whats the motive of this article I dont understand.
wheres adhaalath and salaf now? they probably would be partying cus this happened.
Thats the sorry state of the Maldives. These youth & even the matured ones, do not have any Islamic values in them. Let alone they do not know the teachings of Islam. These kinds of jokes are common among the youth. They make fun of anything & using the words of Islam is not an uncommon practice. As they grow up in a Muslim country they just know these few words.
We need to do more to incalcate the true teachings of Islam in our children. To respect human beings. To respect other people's faith. To respect people from other ethnicity. To treat the visitors with respect as our religion teaches us,
this is not hilarious this is shame. we should bring this addu dog and make him run on the roads for humiliating the Maldives one and only source of income. this is definitely a terror attack that was organized to attack Maldives tourism in a new way and adhaalath would be behind this.
This is hilarious! who gives a shit about the consequences that will surely follow..
Rock on fornicators! Swines and Adduans!
lol
Please note the Maldivian word 'balhu' translates as dog, not swine. Hope this mistake is corrected
I am very sorry for the couple and all those who have been innocently exposed to the vulgarity of the villu reef staff.
I do not think it is the first time. It must have been happening and I am sure the management will be aware of it.
How low can people get and it is a norm that prevails across Maldives. I have heard such language and vulgar slang used even among the maldivian managers and maldivian owners of resorts or those when dealing with foreigners.
I would like to see this resort in the court and let it be a lesson for everyone. No, do not undermine its abuse and tuck it away. Tourism may suffer the brunt but we asked for it.
Time to sweep the dust under the carpet!!
Has this got anything to do with resort workers attempting to make some sort of a stand for their worker's rights perhaps? One thing which I had said many times is that when ppl perceive that they are oppressed, they are very easily swayed by radicalism, it gives a voice, a vent, a vehicle with which to express their anger. This is one of the side effects of a nation becoming rich quickly if the wealth is unevenly distributed.
On the other hand, perhaps these resort workers are ungreatful. I was on a resort, and the guys well, they ate well, played soccer on the beach after work and it appeared to me that their lives were like paradise. Of course I don't really know what the hell these resort actually go through in reality.
Or maybe they want to back to the days when the poorer classes who did not own a boat and could not work in fishing cleaned the boots of the Be'Fulhu classes and this type of thing for a little fish and rice?
Ingratitude or aspiration for justice.
I am not sure...
Regardless, the plight of the resort workers union has to be taken seriously or this type of behaviour will repeat itself.
This behaviour is animal like. But it is easy for anyone who feels degraded and belittled, exploited and victimised for long enough to lose their humanity and act like an animal.
Thats no excuse, of course, because, a disciplined soul would be able to retain their humanity no matter how oppressed they are, but such humans are rare and have a special gift from Above which us normal people don't have
To those who feel that this behavior is either funny or acceptable - YOU PEOPLE ARE NOT JUST DEGRADING SONS OF DOG FILTH, BUT JUST PLAIN NOBODIES WHO NEVER KNOWN A DECENT THING
And yes, this is the work of all those big bearded afghan-cult extremists who cut their trousers and make their under age wives and concubines live inside a goat penn - cuz that would get them to heaven. Very sad to see our society plagued with this extremism.
This is all Sun Travel Shiyam, whose idea of power and wealth is to blatantly indulge in this kind of sick jokes. Last heard, he was arranging his own marriage, his fourth, after divorcing three other wives. This particular "wedding of the Century" to be held in Male' is expected to be attended by top brass of this administration, who by doing so would yet again endorse the infamous Sun Travel Shiyam MP and his many sick and perverted practices, including the blatatnt mockery and trickery of unsuspecting paying Guests. Fellow MPs should take up this matter in parliament.
I have personally seen Siyam attend these weddings, himself looking grim, to later come and joke about it in the Bar. At that time he was married to an underage girl, a sibling of twins. Minivan should check how many of these weddings Siyam had attended personally. It would be easy. Just check from Air Taxi or Trans Maldivian.
I just read Maldiva's comment that this evil behaviour is perpetrated by managers and owners of resorts. That ends my naive line of thinking that this could be some workes stand thing!
Pause the video at 4:50 and you can see that the owner of Vilu Reef Mr Sun Travel Ahmed Siyam Mohamed MP is in the video, personally witnessing this rip off of unsuspecting clients.
Its doubtful that the Majlis would look into the matter as Mr. Sun Travel Siyam is being wooed by Abdulla Shahid, the Speaker of Parliament to marry his underage neice. What do you mean under age? President Nasheed as well as Mr Speaker knows that in Islam, the husband has an absolute right of divorce and no consent is required from the wife/ wives, and that one can marry any girls above 9 years. Both men are committed to upholding these Islamic rights.
It's just disgusting.it has nothing to do with a good humor! very sad but
it is what we can see on X-Ray of present situation with morality and ethics in Maldives/
@ibrahim.
Excellent point. Which breed of animal should we treat our guests as?
Pause the video at 4:47 and play it till 4:52. You can clearly see the owner Mr. Sun Travel Siyam personally witnessing this callous rip off.
This is sad... SERIOUSLY?! WT*! really sad!
For those of distinuished and humiliated visitor from Europe - who interested to know Sun Travel Shiyam is the owner of Vilu Reef Resort. Can Minvan news publish his reply now - specially as he was there - in film! Is true? Was he there? What say he?
good bye the hope of seven wonders...nimrods
this is really sick..by seen the fluency of the 'celebrent' it can be concluded this kinda wedings are widely practiced in this resort..therefore managment is well aware of this..wonder how these ppl dare to feed themselves and their families frm the money obtained from mockery for sum innocent strangers..
What's wrong with Minivan now? Haven't got anything else to write about now? Everyone will laugh at this pun and know the staff did not intend any of the words they said in that 'ceremony'. Even the guests will be aware that this is just a ceremony to make them feel good. Its part of the entertainment process. No need to dramatize with literal meanings of words Didi said in his improvised sermon. Even guests sometimes use unmentionable swear words if they think the staff will not understand the language while smiling broadly.
The writer is being too politically correct. Its common knowledge that the music bands also switch words in popular dhivehi songs, mostly in traditional songs to slangs and swears because they know the guests will not understand a word of it. Sometimes there happen to be to guests who knows these tricks and it elicits nothing but laughter.
The point is that resort staff in this situation did not intend any disrespect to guests under any circumstance. From their context its just a playful performance both parties enjoyed. No need to dramatize and make journalistic capital out of it.
WTF this is absolutely disgusting. Worst among mankind would be find on these isles.
To top it off i think nothing is really gonna happen regarding this.
I do sincerely hope that this video is seen by as big an audience as possible, especially the very market that the Maldivians target.
I also do hope that these sick b***ds will get hit where it really hurts, i.e. their fat bank accounts. As has been said by many, this reveals the dark side of a very dark business; i.e. the tourism business in the Maldives.
All tour operators should take note of this, and warn their clients about the vulgarity of the place they are about to visit.
Sorry for the couple. Those sick bastards regret not getting them to kiss. Let the sacking and suing begin.
these bastards involved in this despicable and low level act should be decapitated..........
Wow! Very disgusting. The couple needs to sue the resort for every penny they paid.
they must have done this for several times i guess. especially this addu man's performance shows his easiness in those words used in such religious tone...
in last semester... i just told to one of my lecturers that i m not proud of being a Maldivian. and i gave reasons n justifications for my personal view but he refuses to believe me n joked over me in front of all other students in the class... hope this could be a gud Evidence for my view on being proud to be proven...
Disgusting, this is like biting on the hands those who are feeding..But I am not surprised that such disgusting thing has happened on an island of a disgusting person.
First he screwed the mother, and now he is screwing the 18 year old daughter..Burn in hell Shyam. Just rot and burn in hell
Let us know if anything comes of this. It will take something extreme to stop extremist Maldivians from behaving in such a degrading manner. I wish you somehow had the power to use this video to bring this nation to its knees. Maybe only then, ppl wil stop playing politics and take these issues seriously.
Unacceptable. Government response? Nothing.
Life lesson learned today. Do not accept any form of marriage which is conducted in any other language, including Arabic.
It is hard to believe that the marriage address delivered by the celebrant was randomly composed by a rostered member of the staff. The language and the sentiments are too similar to those in the Koran, Hadith and the teachings of the mullahs. The reference to swine comes from Koran 5:59-60 in which Jews and Christians are warned of calamities that would befall them if they disapproved of Muslims. Parables are given in which one group of people were turned into swine and the other into apes. As a result Muslims generally regard Christians as pigs and Jews as apes. The celebrant goes on to tell the hapless couple that their marriage is not valid because being non-Muslims their marriage cannot be valid. That is totally in keeping with the Islamic message of hate. I feel that the resort, the Maldives tourism industry and the Government of the Maldives have to apologise to the couple, their country and all other couples who have had weddings at this resort. Their country was insulted as much as they themselves. Until this happens it is appropriate that the international community places an embargo against travel to the Maldives. The least the government could do is to file criminal charges against the resort.
Minivannews,
Please follow this case and keep us updated.
I really hope the couple gets compensated for this utterly disgusting behavior.
Maldives is originally categorized into two groups. One belongs to the capital Male' and the other is those living on other islands. They are referred to as "Beerahtehin" or Raajethere People". These Beerahtehin are from fishing communities, there are no organised laws in these communities, the law is what the island Chief says. Until late 1970's its very difficult to travel to these islands, there are no TV's or radio available to them. So these communities are unaware of anything outside there community, they had no values, had no respect, being fishermen they had hunters mentality. These people cannot comprehend the consequences of their actions. Back in the 1980's if the Beerahtehin want to travel to Male' they have to get a special visa called "Kuda Sitee". They should show to the authorities who will be looking after them in Male' in other words who will be responsible for them. When tourism came some of these people started working at resort islands. When Qayoom abolished the visa requirement there was an influx of these Beerahtehin into Male' they brought with themselves their way of life. In Male' what you see now is the Beerahtehin way of life, no respect for laws, no values, no morals, In the Beerahtehin brain these elements were not developed. Some of them now hold PHD's but the fact is their primitive or post 1980's way of thinking are still in their subconscious mind. Those you see in the video are all Beerahtehins making fun of the couple. They just cannot comprehend the consequences of their actions. For them its nothing. For them its just in a days work. Male' too is polluted by them.
It's a shame! However, I would like to say that this not a first couple in the world who were mocked and insulted. It does not mean that all wedding celebration had on vilureef and other resorts in the Maldives did same. This would have been happened simply by an on individual who did this atrocity.
We have learned a lesson from this and should take necessary measures in order to avoid this kind of atrocities. As a Maldivian we do apology for such thing happening in the Maldives.
I am ashamed.
I am sorry that abul barakaath ever landed here. We should get rid of this vile religion and learn to live like human beings.
arabia!! Their grip hold of the poor in the world is so destructive !!!
The Management and the Ministry of Tourism should take precautionary measures to ensure that these kind of things will be minimized in the Maldives Tourism Industry. We suggest all resort to assign a wedding coordinator for every event which take place so as to monitor
Wat a shame on this! I'm a staff of Vilu Reef. Re-one of the comment on this I would like to say that Mr.Shiyam did not attend any wedding ceremony conducted by Mr.Hussain Didi. He attend on a wedding earlier as the Gazees who have conducted wedding ceremony on Vilu Reef never have used filthy languages. So how can he know this...