Tag: rehendhi

Comment: I’m a Muslim and a Believer… and you?

I’ve kept my opinions about religion to myself for a long time now. Even when I was verbally tortured in school all those years ago because of the mere reason that I did not wear the head scarf, at the most I’d say to the abusers to let me be a Muslim in my own right and to keep their version of Islam to themselves.

Discussions about Islam would mostly take place between my close friends and my family and that’s just about it, because I knew if I were to protect my right and my practices I’d be unjustifiably compared to a Kafir.

Women like me shouldn’t have to tell people like them how many times a day we pray and how many good deeds we do in a day! We shouldn’t have to tell them that we actually do not resort to narcotics, alcohol, violence and premarital sex!

So I always kept my good deeds and my belief in my Allah who is my sole guardian, who protected me through bad times and gave me much luck, to myself.

But I can see clearly now that I’m amongst the minority. So it’s high time I came out of my shell and spoke out. I’m not even in the Maldives right now and yet I feel like I’m going to be an outcast when I go back.

I’m here in a far off country studying to pursue a career in a field that would allow me to actively involve in helping my fellow Maldivians whom I’ve loved every single day since the beginning. I’ve always heard of Maldivian hospitality and our broadmindedness and how highly appreciated all these attributes are (were?) worldwide.

But then I came to know about these threats again non-buruga-wearers and how hard the Muslims that are higher on the extreme scale are trying to implement their islam into people’s hearts and minds. And then this whole Nazim vs Dr Zakir Naik plus the rest of the extremists thing came up and now everything is in a stir up!

Is it safe for me to go back to my home country at the end of my course? Will I be forced to take refuge somewhere else?

I thought I came from a religion which encourages people to ask questions about their doubts so that the people who know the answers can answer them and then everyone will be at peace! And I also thought my religion was one which had its foundation on peace and harmony with no bloodshed and violence.

Well, and I also supported Dr Zakir Naik and his logic, science and other various beliefs which I thought were more moderate than some other people who were, like I said, higher on the extreme scale. I supported him until he lost his cool [during his Friday lecture in the Maldives].

I expected to see something miraculous when Nazim asked his question; something remarkable where a Muslim ‘scholar’ peacefully instills belief in Allah and Islam into a non believer merely by his words, logic and science.

And then it ended rather abruptly without any satisfaction on my part, on Nazim’s part and I highly think neither on Dr Zakir Naik’s part.

Islam is a religion of peace (oh yes! I sill believe so) and I wanted something beautiful to happen! There could have been, I think, various efforts that Dr Zakir Naik could have made on his part to answer all the questions asked, that could have brought out an incredible result, rather than to ask the non-believer questions to deliberately humiliate him and create an unstable atmosphere.

Or, even when Dr Zakir Naik couldn’t satisfactorily answer the question, the rest of the “knowledgeable” people, also higher on the extreme scale, could have more peacefully taken the non-believers circumstances into their hands and attempted to also instill some belief into him.

All these could have been done more gently rather than build and uproar, threaten to kill and then actually attempt to do this eventually!

Where is the peace in all this that has happened? Isn’t Islam a religion of peace? Where is the beauty in all this? Where is the possibility of something remarkable happening? Oh wait a minute! Did those people who claim to know their religion better actually lose their footing and resort to something non-Muslim? Who are the non-Muslims now? I didn’t certainly go and threatened to behead a non-believer and run after him, so certainly I cannot be a “Kafir” now, can I?

I hope there are more people like me, who are more knowledgeable in this area willing to come out and prove their points in the face of all this injustice! Our beautiful paradise on Earth is in bloodshed and sinking in its own blood.

I say, we need to come out of this shell, prepare for anything that can possibly happen and attempt to bring an end to all this nonsense and violence happening in the name of Islam. What on Earth is President Nasheed doing?

First published on http://rehendhi.wordpress.com. Reprinted with permission.

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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Comment: Rehendhi a Minivan News plot to promote “national sissyness” and “lesbian relations”

English translation of a statement published yesterday on the website of the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party.

Signs of actions are now being seen from Minivan News that it has started a special campaign against the (Religious Lesson) ‘The Call 2010’, which [Islamic NGO] Jamiyyathul Salaf is preparing to host this month.

We have been informed that Minivan News, which even from its onset has been involved in openly protesting against such religious activities and trying to instill doubt in ordinary people, is a website led by President Nasheed’s (younger) brother Nazim Abdul Sattar. Even before, on various different occasions, the (Minivan News) website has been openly insulting Islamic slogans, and many people who love Islam have already called to have the website banned.

Jamiyyathul Salaf is organising ‘The Call’ 2010 which is to be held in the first week of June. ‘The Call’s’ first lecture was held in 2009. Based on the Special Lectures by Dr. Bilal Philips, ‘The Call 2009’ paved way for, especially, many religion-loving youth to get wide-ranging religious information.

‘The Call’ 2009 was so successfully conducted due to the generosity of many religion-loving people. Sponsorship is now open for ‘The Call’ 2010. Thereby, many religion-loving Maldivian businessmen, from among the Maldivian businessmen, are now contributing generously.

We have noticed that Minivan News has kick-started a special campaign to prevent such donations (to The Call 2010). Under this campaign the first among those targeted are the leading businessmen of Maldives.

A petition letter has been prepared and posted on Minivan News website calling for Sonee Sports not to give any aid to The Call 2010.

Although Minivan News writes that Rehendhi is an underground feminist movement, this latest campaign started by Minivan News is similar to the former such campaigns conducted by Minivan News.

We have been informed that the Rehendhi association was borne out of the Minivan News [team] in order to promote national ‘sissy-ness’ and in order to call for lesbian relations among women.

When Sheikh Fareed this year gave a religious lecture about Valentine’s Day, female underwear with words written that could offend Islam were sent to Sheikh Fareed, in order to harass and insult his lecture.

Before sending these items to Sheikh Fareed, photos were taken of these panties which were then published on Minivan News. And various articles have been written on [the Minivan News] website regarding this.

No doubt you will not lose anything by spending on such events that disseminate true information and enlightenment about Islam. Enormous blessings are promised for those who spend on the promotion of Allah’s religion.

We call upon Maldivian businessmen not to give in to the threats posed by Islam’s Enemies and the Devil. Surely, the Devil will spread in people’s hearts fear of becoming poor. The Giver is Allah.

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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Feminist group launches letter writing campaign against sponsors of Dr Bilal Philips event

The Maldives’ self-styled ‘underground feminist movement’ Rehendhi has announced joint letter writing campaign with the ‘Enough is Enough’ group in protest against Sonee Company’s intention to sponsor an upcoming lecture by Islamic speaker Dr Bilal Philips.

The event, titled ‘The Call’, is being held in early June by Islamic NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf.

Rehendhi issued a press statement today condemning Dr Philips’ preaching at last years’ Call, accusing him of “preaching that it is Islamic to marry off young girls as soon as they reached puberty, irrespective of their age.

“We refuse to tolerate this misogynistic, regressive and repressive interpretation of Islam, especially in a public lecture,” Rehendhi claimed.

“The Ministry of Health and Family, UNICEF, Doctors Association, Child Protections Unit at the Maldives Police Services, Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Education and almost all the NGOs working on child rights in the Maldives remained silent, reluctant to be labeled as un-Islamic.”

Such interpretations of Islam conflicted with “numerous international treaties protecting the girl child” that the Maldives has signed, Rehendhi claimed, “including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflic, and Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.”

Rehendhi also criticised “the insensitivity of the judges to the rights of the girl child”, claiming that “deficient coordination for the implementation and monitoring of the conventions and laws within the government leave the most vulnerable children in our society exposed to child sexual abuse, sometimes under the legal guise of the so called ‘Islamic marriages’.”

“In an environment where sexualized violence towards children and minors is rampant, irresponsible preaching results in both intended and unintended repercussions that affect our young population,” the group claimed, calling on Maldivian society to “stand up and implement the laws and conventions”.

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said the Ministry had received no information that Dr Bilal Philips’ preaching including the abuse of children’s rights, and “guaranteed” that the Islamic Ministry “would not let such acts happen in the Maldives.”

”We are confident that after our new Religious Unity regulations are implemented, it will be easier for us to take action against anyone who [preaches] this,” said Shaheem said.

Salaf said it did not wish to comment on the matter.

Rehendhi has previously protested “against misogyny in Maldivian society” by claiming to have sent undergarments to conservative Maldivian Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed on Valentine’s Day.

Correction: The protest is a joint campaign by the groups Rehendhi and ‘Enough is Enough’, not just Rehendhi as previously stated. Furthermore, Rehendhi only sent underwear to Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed, coinciding with a public lecture, not “conservative Maldivian Sheikhs” as originally stated.

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