Tag: islamic ministry

Communication among Muslims a key challenge: Farah Pandith

Extremism is the ‘front and centre’ of concerns shared by Muslims all over the world, at least according to Farah Pandith, the US State Department’s Special Representative to Muslim Communities, who is paying a four day visit to the Maldives.

Pandith, who reports directly to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is using the visit to meet with government and political figures, as well as NGOs and local people, to look at the possible social challenges facing the Maldives as an emerging Islamic democracy, as well as how best to respond to such difficulties.

Speaking on Sunday at the American Centre in the National Library in Male’ to an audience of local people and foreigners from across the private and public sector, Pandith said that even in the current Facebook age, communication among Muslims was seen as a major challenge facing Islamic communities.

According to Pandith, a large proportion of the world’s Muslims are believed to be under 30 years of age, yet the US Representative claimed that amidst a divide between followers of the faith and non-Islamic people, many young Muslims were not part of the “conversation” relating to differing faiths and viewpoints.

The representative said that this lack of communication about Islam in some cultures has further added to a global culture of ‘us and them’ between Muslims and other faith and belief groups.

In such a climate, the US State Department claims to now be looking to work with NGOs and local enterprise to better directly address discontent in Islamic societies all over the world.

In considering this more hands on approach by the US government, Pandith acknowledged that some US foreign policy during the last deacde, particularly in the Arab world, had been “unpopular” – not just amongst Muslims but large swathes of the world’s population. However, she claimed the country was moving beyond a so-called “freedom agenda” of pushing democracy, by trying instead to promote initiatives and activities designed to directly address prominent social concerns.

In addressing local audience members at the talk, Pandith asked the 20 or so people in attendance what it meant to them to be Maldivian and Islamic.

The response, according to some in the audience, was confusion and possible consideration of leaving the country amidst concerns over what they perceive as issues of free speech in relation to the role of faith.

Having met Pandith during her visit, State Minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, told Minivan News that principles such as free speech and human rights were an important part of the Maldives constitution and the influence of Islam in the country.

“The Maldives is very unique as we are both 100 percent Muslim and democratic,” he said.

Pointing specifically to Article 27 of the constitution, Shaheem stressed that there was freedom of speech within the Maldives, though this right to speak was bound by the principles of the Islamic faith.

Ultimately, the State Minister for Islamic Affairs claimed that Islam has formed the backbone of Maldives society for hundreds of years and was central to national ideas of human rights and free speech.

“In war for example, Islam forbids the killing of woman and children,” said Shaheem as an example of the religion’s impact on the notion of human rights.

In relation to the potential challenges of establishing more debate over Islam in the country, Shaheem said he believed the major concerns the ministry faced in the country were more related to drugs and the emergence of extremist ideas, both religious and non-religious in nature.

Although stressing his belief that the country has no Al Qaeda-style organisations, the State Minister said it was important to counter and not give any opportunity for more radical, extreme forms of Islam to take root in the country.

To try and meet this aim, Shaheem claimed that education and academic pursuits formed a major part of efforts to retain the country’s status as a moderate nation.

The Islamic Ministry says that greater links it has with many western nations like the UK reflects a more collaborative relationship with Muslim communities across the world.

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Hajj attendance continues to rise among Maldivians: Islamic Ministry

A growing number of Maldivians are showing interest in taking part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage that kicked off yesterday, meaning both big business and a few logistical headaches for the private groups selected to oversee the holy visit to Saudi Arabia, says the Islamic Ministry.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Mohamed Didi, told Minivan News that the 1402 pilgrims travelling from the Maldives to Mecca in Saudi Arabia represents a year-on-year growth of local people present during the fifth pillar of Islam – a key requirement of the national faith.

A total of 1142 pilgrims travelled from the Maldives last year for the Hajj, with Saudi officials estimating that about 2.5 million participants were in attendance overall during the 2009 pilgrimage.

Didi says that after originally obtaining a quota for 1000 Maldivians to travel out to Mecca this year, the Islamic Ministry has since been granted an additional 500 places at the last minute after requests to Saudi Arabian authorities to help meet what he says has been increasingly strong interest in attending the event.

However, the last minute nature of this extension has caused some challenges for organisers, according to the ministry. Considering the need for the eight private groups entrusted with arranging pilgrimages from the Maldives to secure transport, accommodation and other travel services, the Permanent Secretary claims that not all this quota has been filled this year due to insufficient planning time.

“Normally a group will rent an apartment [for the pilgrimage] two to three months ahead of Hajj,” added Didi. “This creates an extra burden [for organisers]”.

Alongside the private groups and business that are selected to organise and oversee the Hajj pilgrimage, the government is itself allocated 10 spaces to select participants from across the civil and public service sector to travel to Mecca. Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari is leading the Maldives’ delegation at present.

The Hajj, as one of the five pillars of Islam, is viewed as key a religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out by all able-bodied followers at least once in their lifetime, should they be able to afford the trip. According to Didi, the cost per person for taking part in this year’s pilgrimage is thought to be about Rf 65,000 (US $5000).

For those not able to make their way to Mecca this year though, Didi says that the country will be spending the day fasting and praying ahead of Eid Al Adha beginning tomorrow, an event that will see a number of roads around the capital being closed to accommodate worshippers.

Half of the ground floor of the Islamic Centre by Republic Square in Male’ will also be set aside exclusively for women during prayers, the Ministry added.

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Fiqh academy to reprint an amended version of Quran translation

State Islamic minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has said the ministry’s Fiqh academy will reprint an amended version of the Dhivehi translation of the Holy Quran.

“We discovered there were 180 symbols missing in the current translation, and verses of some Surahs were disordered,” Sheikh Shaheem said.

“The current translation was a version made with the assistance of a scholar’s council appointed by the former government, therefore the Fiqh academy will not invalidate the current version, but will rather reprint an amended version,’’ said Sheikh Shaheem.

Shaheem said as Quran was holy it should be well protected.

“If the incorrect version is not amended it could potentially lead to confusion in the long run,’’ he suggested.

In June last year the ministry sent a letter to the president’s office requesting the copyright of the current translation, which is required in order to reprint the translation.

“But the president’s office replied that they could provide us the copyright – it’s funny though, because everything related to religion is supposed to be kept under the Islamic Ministry,’’ Shaheem said. “We do not know when we will be able to start the [reprinting], until we get the copyright.’’

Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, was unavailable for comment at time of press.

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State Islamic Minister calls for end to judicial vigilantism

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has called for the termination of illegal ‘street’ courts, following the inauguration last week of a ‘people’s court’ by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activists.

“I call on everyone to stop illegal acts such as smearing the name of the state’s judiciary in the name of justice,” said Shaheem. “The Attorney General [Husnu Suood] has also declared that these actions are illegal.”

Shaheem said that judicial vigilantism would disrupt civil peace “without a doubt”.

“I call on the honorable parliamentarians who are involving themselves in these actions to stay away,” Shaheem said, “and I appeal to everyone to conduct their work within the boundaries of the law.”

Shaheem said that if there were any “unnecessary things” occurring inside the courts, the situation should be rectified “according to the laws.”

He also condemned an attempt to attack Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Shahid last week during his weekly badminton game at Imaduddeen school.

“Recently we heard that some people tried to kidnap and threaten the Speaker of the Parliament – this is something that should not be done,” Shaheem suggested. “These are very low-grade act in terms of discipline.”

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Comment: Cancer in our heart

With my own ears, I’ve heard more than one Maldivian long for death’s release. And the chills that ran down my spine the first time I heard it reside in me still, slowly corroding my hope for a better national future.

Recently – amidst the political turmoil that has dominated everyone’s consciousness – there was a spectacular suicide that captured us for the briefest of moments. A wayward youth, giving in to his inner turmoil, flung himself from the air traffic control tower – departing this world, not by meeting the ground below, but rather by meeting a hangman’s noose. His body left dangling, silently screaming his frustration and his surrender.

Did the abuse he endured in life end with his death? Was the respect and dignity he so desired afforded him after he passed from this world? No.

Accused of apostasy, people have called him a showoff for his ever-so-public last testament. A lunatic. Someone unworthy of sympathy. They have taunted him and scarred his memory and even gone to such as extent as to suggest that he should not be given his due burial rights. That he was not God’s creature and that his alleged disbelief in God meant he is somehow less than human.

With this poor soul, we have failed. Failed in offering alternatives to troubled youth. Failed in addressing the intolerance in our society. And we have failed in our duties as human beings.

Social Negligence

As a nation we have developed a culture of neglect. While being among the nosiest of peoples, constantly sticking our noses where they don’t belong, we have not taken the next step: actually caring about those around us and the plight of others.

The social ills we face are greater than I have seen in any other non-war-torn nation. Soaring sexual and drug abuse rates have become the widely accepted bane of our society. And those who are left with significant psychological damage are left without avenues for help. Those who have entered into depression, who feel their very soul being eaten away, and who no longer believe in the value of their lives, have no avenue for help. While physical abuses have only just started to be addressed, mental abuses of all denominations have been forgotten.

This culture of neglect must end. We have to encourage more therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists to come to this country. We have to convince government and private institutions that we cannot heal our nation if the souls of our nation remain in tatters. And we cannot continue to pretend that the local Imam is all knowing and qualified to deal with all manner of mental problems.

Ideologies of Intolerance

We especially have to stop pretending that neo-salafi ideologies based in the Hanbali school of Islamic Jurisprudence are competent enough to deal with this world’s problems and issues. I believe Islamic counseling has a place in our society; that it helps bring people fulfillment and that it is an integral (not primary) part of efforts such as drug counseling. However, the recent global trend towards the propagation of neo-salafi ideologies is something I cannot accept.

Not only is neo-salafism fundamentally against Maldivian culture and heritage, it is also the most intolerant of all the classical Islamic schools of jurisprudence. It does not allow the scholars of this ideology to relate to victims of mental abuse. It does not allow for varying thoughts to exist, which is necessary to help in the process of healing. Instead, this ideology calls for the strict imposition of their beliefs, wiping out whatever was there before – removing all traces of the person who once existed.

Would be Saviors

They see all the world as sinners, and themselves as the would be saviors of our nation. The salafis and all their ilk would save our society from all of our ills. They will bring us to heaven’s gate and lead us hand and foot into the Creator’s embrace, with never a moment’s consideration that such action would leave ours meaningless.

“We can talk about there being no compulsion in religion till we lose our voices, but conservatives will not care, and this will not lessen the number women being abused, or the number of atrocities being committed in our religion’s name,” Tariq Ramadan, Islamic scholar at Oxford University and grandson of the Islamic Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Bana, told me at a conference on Islam and democracy in April.

I do not believe in secularism in the Maldives. But I do not accept neo-salafism as the only answer to it.

The Result of Conservatism

This poor soul, Ismail Mohamed Didi, was pushed to the edge as a result of the conservative ideologies present in our society. Those who knew him well have all attested that he was “a nice guy” who did not impose his atheism in others. The problem was that some who knew of his beliefs were offended by the fact that he had them to begin with, hence the official complaint and investigation. It is pure and simple: blatant intolerance is surpassing our need to have love for our fellow Maldivians.

Maldivians are becoming fanatical in their beliefs and the world has started to notice. We are importing Saudi-based neo-salafi ideologies rooted in the Hanbali School of Islamic jurisprudence. Out of the 1.5 billion Muslims on earth, only 10 percent of the Islamic world agrees with this interpretation. An interpretation, mind you, which refuses to accept the validity of any of the other classical forms of Islamic jurisprudence.

Religion is not something you wear on your sleeve, or with a long beard or Arabian dress. The growing norm in Maldivian culture is a complete eradication of it, because today in Maldives to be a better Muslim, you need to be a better Arab. Forget Indonesia, Malaysia, and even Egypt, because those are apparently not real Muslims. They are not educated enough. And even though many of their scholars have a lifetime of learning behind them, they do not see the truth.

Really?

Our Choice

Social negligence, which has existed for time immemorial, mixed with the newly institutionalised ideologies of intolerance have proven to be in this instance a fatal concoction. And this darkness has spread through our nation.

We all have a choice to make. We either chose to stand in the light, or to recede further into darkness. We each need to take responsibility for our actions and inaction. We each need to take responsibility for our society and the ills we see in it. We need to stand up for what is right; turning away from ignorance, hatred, intolerance and complete societal degradation. It starts with each and every one of us.

http://jswaheed.com

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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No licences for unscripted Friday sermons: Ministry of Islamic Affairs

The Maldives ministry of Islamic Affairs has suspended issuing licenses to deliver Friday sermons without a script, reports Miadhu.

The suspension is to strengthen the Maldives regulation on religious unity, according to the ministry.

The decision came after intense debate within the ministry, said Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, minister of state for Islamic Affairs.

Unscripted sermons were not delivered in the country prior to the new government, comments Miadhu, and many people believe that the religious awareness in the country has increased as a result of the unscripted sermons.

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“People should be free to pray according to any sect of Islam”, says Adhaalath president

The Islamic Ministry and the Adhaalath party have expressed concern over certain amendments proposed in the religious unity act by Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Afrasheem Ali.

The Islamic Ministry on its website said that while the amendment bill was useful, it was concerned about an article stating that the Shafi sect should be enshrined as the basis of Islam in the Maldives.

The Islamic Ministry described the article as “unIslamic”, and that it was against the constitution of the Maldives.

Furthermore, the ministry called on parliament to gather more information and to cite that information when amending the proposed bill during the committee stage.

The ministry said that “many scholars” were concerned over the amendment proposed to make the Shafi sect the main basis of Islam in the Maldives.

Sheikh Hussein Rasheed, President of the Adhaalath Party, refuted the article which making the Shafi sect the official sect of the Maldives.

”People should have the freedom to pray according to any sect [of Islam] they wish,” said Sheikh Hussein. ”There are many people in the Maldives who follows different sects when worshiping.”

Sheikh Hussein said that although the bill was passed, ”nobody will follow it.”

”Until 1997, on the island where Dr Afrasheem comes from, they did not perform the Friday prayers because according to the Shafi sect there should be a minimum of 40 people in order to conduct them,” he said. ”So if it becomes a law to follow the Shafi sect, again we are going back to those days.”

He said that Dr Afrasheem’s comment in parliament that in Malaysia people followed the Shafi sect was “a big lie.”

”In Malaysia people perform prayers according other sects as well,” Sheikh Hussein said.

He said that in many other Islamic countries there were no laws that specified which sect to follow.

”Laws can’t force people to follow a specific sect – people should be rather trained to follow a specific sect,” he said. ”I strongly refuse that part of the amendment bill.”

On May 21, Dr Afrasheem Ali presented a bill to amend the religious unity act.

Dr Afrasheem said that social unity among Maldivians was weaker than it had been in the past.

”One reason for this [disruption] is issues of religion, particularly disputes over worship and [scholars] criticising each other,” said Dr Afrasheem.

He proposed that the Shafi sect be chosen as the basis of Islam in the Maldives.

”I selected the Shafi sect because it is the sect most friendly, most accepted and most widely followed sect in Islam,” he said.

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‘Melodic Death Metal Band’ Arch Enemy to perform live in the Maldives

Arch Enemy, the world famous ‘melodic Death Metal band’ is scheduled to perform at the first international Death Metal concert in the Maldives.

The band is booked for the third series of RockStorm, organised by CQ, and scheduled for July 23 at Alimas Carnival stage, CQ managing director, Mohamed Rasheed, told Minivan News.

”The show is mainly for younger people, so the price of the tickets would not be higher than MRF200,” said Rasheed. ”Rock Storm is sponsored by Le Cute.”

Rasheed said ticket numbers would be limited. ”The venue has the space for 2-3000 people,” he said. ”We are thinking of extending the place to allow for 5000 people.”

The biggest concern was that this year many scheduled events were cancelled by various organisers, said Rasheed.

”So people might think the same thing will happen to our show,” he said, ”but we have got permission from the government and this is the third year we have held RockStorm.”

Michael Amott, founding member and guitarist of Arch Enemy, commented on the band’s official website: “Just when we thought we’d run out of new territories to play with Arch Enemy… This offer came to us through the good people at Rock Storm in the Maldives… Curious as we are – we obviously grabbed the opportunity to go and do this! We’ll bring the tunes and sunscreen SPF 666!”

So far this year, there have been two international artists who were booked and then failed to perform in the Maldives.

Sri Lankan organisation Platinum Entertainment on March 30 announced that it would host an event presenting world famous R&B singer Akon live in the Maldives at the Outdoor Cricket stadium last April 23.

A few weeks after the Islamic ministry expressed concern about the event, it was cancelled for at least six months, due to technical and security concerns.

Well-known Bollywood star Shakhrukhan was scheduled to perform in the Maldives at another event which was cancelled for similar reasons. It was also reported that the Bollywood star’s performance was cancelled due to poor tickets sales.

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