Tag: salaf

Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll: Br Abdurraheem Green

This is the edited transcript of a sermon by Br Abdurraheem Green entitled ‘Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll’, presented during the Jamiyyathul Salaf-organised event, ‘The Call 2010’.

Today we gonna speak about Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll. Does that sound interesting? I think so.

So maybe you will be thinking how come you are talking about sex and drugs and rock and rock and roll, what sort of thing is that to talk about as a Muslim. I remember once in the UK, while giving this talk and and we were advertising it, and some of the masjids (mosques), they wouldn’t put the poster up. They said “no no no – no sex in the Masjid.”

Alhamdhulillahi (Praise be to Allah), I’ll tell you what today’s topic is not going to be about.

Today’s topic is not going to be about the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) of music – is it halal, is it haram, is it ‘makroom’? It’s not going to be about that.

Sex outside of marriage – is it halal, is it haram – what is the ruling in Islam? Today’s topic is not about that. What is the ruling in Islam on drugs? I’m not going to talk about that.

I will be talking about something much more fundamental, something much more basic than even that. Today’s topic is a little bit in a sense about philosophy. It’s about why, the purpose of life, why are we here, what is the reason for our existence.

And on this world – in fact, we don’t even need to talk about the world, we can just talk about capital Male’.

We can see two competing ideas, right here, because you my brothers and sisters, masha Allah, you have come here or maybe sitting watching this on TV.

I really wish you were here, it’s much more fun if you are here. You will enjoy the atmosphere more. It’s a bit hot here. We do not have AC [air conditioner]. Well, I know some of you are watching this on the islands, Masha Allah. Just I don’t know where… you hear that music? (Pointing to the direction of music outside the carnival stage). Can you hear the music?

Well, you see this is it, brothers and sisters. There are some of us sitting here, finding out something about Allah, about his religion, and there are some other people there, they have a different idea of what life is about. They think life is about something else. And someone has showed them a philosophy. Someone has showed them a religion. A way of thinking.

Because you know, this is the heart of my lecture brothers and sisters. The very idea of religion itself. The very idea of religion. What does it mean in the Quran when Allah says (recites a verse of Quran) verily, certainly, definitely the dheen (religion) with Allah is Islam.

What is this mean? What is this word “Dheen” mean? Does it just mean religion? And what do we understand, when we say this word “religion”? What is that mean to us?

You know half of the challenges we always face, when we talk about anything, is that words have a meaning. But the meaning of certain words can change throughout time and circumstances.

Now for example, if 50 or 60 years ago I went around saying “I’m feeling gay today”, you know, no one… no people would understand one thing if I say that “I’m feeling gay today”. Today people will understand something different –  the language changes, the meaning changes.

When we say the word religion, often especially in the west, this word religion produces an idea that it is connected with an idea in the minds of people. And because the west is a secularised society, because the west, and in fact this is true, most of the world has made a division between religion and life.

Religion and life. Dheen (religion) and Dhunya (world), they think the two things are separate. So when you say religion in the west, people think going to the church once a week, they think of some things people do in their life, so it is very easy for them to think of religion as something separate from their ordinary life.

But this is not what Dheen means. When we say “Dheen” when we talk about religion, when Allah subhanahu wata’ala talks Dheen, Allah is talking about the way you live your life. And so think about that – when Allah says (recites a verse of Quran) that verily, the way of life, the way you live, that is acceptable for Allah is the way of submitting and surrendering and obeying Allah. This it what it means (repeats the same verse) the way you live your life.

How did you live your life? What is it that you put your faith and your trust in? What is it that you believe is going to make you happy and give you success in life?

It would be very interesting, even here in the Maldives, to go around and do an opinion poll. Let’s take the word ‘’success’’ and ask people, what is your definition.

In fact brothers and sisters, ask yourself now, right now, I want you to ask yourself what is your definition of success. Is your definition of success that you have a good education, you having good job, with a good salary, with a nice house, with a nice motorbike or a nice car, even a beautiful wife, a rich husband?

What is your definition of success? Because for many people in the world that would be the definition of success. They would define success and they say a successful person is one who makes money, who has a nice house, who has a nice car, who has a beautiful partner – this what most people in the world would define as success.

And if that is your definition of success, then you must truly ask yourself, what does it mean to be a Muslim? What is your dheen, because when we talk about sex, drugs and rock and roll, what you are talking about really is about lifestyle.

This is a talk about lifestyle, this is a talk about how you live your life. And there is a whole way of life, the way of life of sex, drugs and rock and roll. It’s attached phrase. It’s attached phrase that describes a way of thinking. A way of living.

And what does it say? There are no gods. There’s no paradise, there’s no day of judgment, there’s no hell fire, there’s no pie-in-the sky waiting for me when I die. If you wanna have fun, if you wanna enjoy yourself, if you want paradise you need to find it right here, right now, on this earth. So you enjoy your life, enjoy your life and live it to the max. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. That’s the message – that’s the message.

It’s the message of the consumer society. The materialistic culture, the idea that in the world and the things in this world, and the pleasures of this world, you will find happiness.

The word they have for it is ‘hedonism’. That’s the idea, that by sex and music and drink and drugs and money and entertainment, this is how you would be happy. This is how you will enjoy your life.

This is the religion of the world today. This is the religion of most people, even most of the people who call themselves Muslims – their true dheen, is this one. The way they truly think of success is the materialistic one. They don’t think of success as being jannah, they don’t think of success as praying five times a day.

The fast in Ramadan, of memorizing the Quran, most people think of success, as a person who is a scholar who has knowledge, who is studying the knowledge of the religion they don’t think of this one in the successful one, no, no, no, no, no.

So this is it. The materialistic society, and we are surrounded everywhere by the preaching of materialistic culture: the hedonism, the sex, drugs, rock and roll society.

We turn on the TV, we sit and we hear it. We open the newspapers and the magazines and we see it and we hear it. We turn on the radio we hear it. It’s everywhere – you walk on the street and you see it. The billboards, the advertisements, 24 hours a day, 365 days in a year, we are being exposed to this message. The message that if you buy this and if you buy that and if you have this and if you have that you will be happy. Your life will be better. You will have more fun.

Look at it – let’s look at some of those advertisements.

I remember back in the United Kingdom. They have an advertisement for an alcoholic drink called Bacardi. Bacardi is a rum, a type of strong alcoholic drink. And the advertisement might have been a picture of an island here in the Maldives.

There was a beautiful, beautiful white beach, palm trees hanging down, blue seas and blue skies and you could see two bikini-clad girls walking down the beach. You will look at that, and say ah… I wanna be there, that’s where I wanna be.

And the advertisement said, this is what the caption was: ‘’a rainy Sunday night in Peckham if you’re drinking Bacardi’’ (NB: Peckham is a borough in South London notable for its high crime rate).

I need to tell you something about British culture. Our weekend is Saturday and Sunday. Well, your weekend is Friday and Saturday, our weekend is Saturday and Sunday. So the worst day in the weekend is Sunday night.

Because Sunday night means the next day I have to go back to work. I have to go back to my boring job, in that boring office with those stupid people.

Most of them hate their work. They just work so that they can make enough money to have fun to buy these things. So you could imagine it’s Sunday night. And the rain… I don’t know, in the Maldives you’ll probably like the rain.

In England we hate the rain. Rain… all we get is rain. That’s why the most tourists come to the Maldives from the UK – the biggest percentage. Because we have so much rain.

So it’s Sunday night and it’s raining that means it’s miserable, it’s Sunday night and oh… it’s the worst. Tomorrow is Monday, and even worse, it’s in Peckham. Peckham. I really can’t describe to you what a horrible place it is. It’s a really horrible place. We don’t have horrible places like this in the Maldives – Peckham is horrible.

So you can imagine, here’s the advert. You’re on the worst day of the week, the weather is horrible, and you’re living in this dump of a place called Peckham, but… but, if, you are drinking Bacardi, it would seem as if you are in paradise.

That’s the message. You know this is what we are being brainwashed with. Oh… alcohol paradise, I could be in the worst condition, I’ll drink Bacardi.

Look at the adverts for Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola, ‘It’s the real thing’, ‘Coke is life’, ‘Coke is it’. And you see the advertisements: Coca-Cola, the sun is shining, the young girls looks so gorgeous. They’re brown, not brown like you. White brown you know, when white people get brown it’s so sexy.

And there the girls smiling and the boys have six-packs, drinking the Coca-Cola. And looking to that you say, huh… I want some of that. You know the women are looking, saying “Oh I want some of that man, he’s nice.” And we’re looking at the girl and we’re saying “Oh, I want some of that.”

So what do you think? In your mind – you don’t even realize it that in your brain –  that the people who make the advertisement, they know how to manipulate your minds. Because they spend billions of dollars studying how to brainwash you into buy that product.

So you’ll say ‘I want some of that’, and in your brain you connect it with drinking Coca-Cola. So you think if I drink Coca-Cola I will be young and beautiful and have a nice time like them. So what you do, you go out and you buy some Coca-Cola.

You know what Coca-Cola does to you – Coca-Cola doesn’t give you shiny white teeth. It makes you fat, and you get cancer. That’s what Coca-Cola does to you. It doesn’t make you young and happy… no. It’s the opposite.

Whether the ad is for a washing machine, or even washing up liquid, look at them. They are not just trying to sell you a product. They don’t just say, you know this product, this product will wash your clothes and this and that, and it’s gonna be this ingredient, no no no. They want you to feel that if you buy this product your whole life will change. Your whole life will change – because they want us to be consumers. They want us to buy,  buy, buy, spend, spend, spend.

So they make us think that if I have this and if I have that my life will be so much better.

I have my mobile phone here [takes out his mobile phone] my HTC, but you know what, one of the brothers is driving me around, he has the HTC HD2.

That’s the newer model of mine – keep looking at it jealously. He’s got the HTC HD2, how come I only have the HTC HD? I want what he’s got. Now what’s the difference, between my phone and his phone? The screen is a little bit bigger, it has a slightly faster operating system, but there is one really cool feature. HTC HD2 in your hotel, it acts as a wireless router. So I can log in to the internet through my HTC HD2 if only I have it.

Oh I want it… oh yes I do… I’m not happy anymore with this mobile phone. I need the latest. I need the latest gadget. I need… so I’m never happy. I want the latest and I need the next thing.

My life is gonna be different, my life will not be the same if I don’t have the latest phone. This is what they want you to believe. How did I ever live without it? This is what they want you to believe. So what… we will consume and consume and consume… buy this, buy that, have this, have that. The consumer society. The consumer culture.

Now just like every religion, the materialistic religion has its theologies. It has to have some attempt at a rational basis to explain it.

So for the materialistic culture the most important idea is the idea of evolution. Evolution is essential to the whole materialistic philosophy. Evolution says that you and me, and all the human beings and everything in this universe evolved through a series of random events.

There’s no God, we don’t need gods [because] evolution has explained everything. Evolution has explained how we came here, without the need of believing in God. This is the heart of what evolution is saying. This is the heart of their philosophy. You don’t need to resort to God to explain how we came here. You and me and everybody, we are descended from apes.

Actually no, that’s not quite true… they don’t say that. They say that we and apes are descended from a common ancestor. Yeah.. that’s what they say. We come from the same branch of the tree. But basically we human beings are sophisticated monkeys. That’s it, think about it, we are just animals. We are a little bit more complex, a little bit more sophisticated.

Now, how do you make a monkey happy? Very easy. Give monkey banana [makes monkey sounds], give him some fruit, happy monkey.

Number two, keep the monkey safe. Meaning you give the monkey some shelter keep him safe, happy monkey… hoohoo… and of course give man monkey woman monkey, woman monkey man monkey, very happy monkey [makes monkey sounds].

We gotta really happy monkey. So you give the monkey some food, you give the monkey some shelter, and you give the monkey some sex. And don’t worry, if man monkey doesn’t like woman monkey, man monkey can go with man monkey. And women monkey with women monkey. Because it doesn’t matter anyway, it’s natural right. It’s just your feelings. If you’re homosexual, if you’re gay according to this idea of course that’s just nature. It’s natural, that’s what they claim. So just do it.

As that Nike slogan tells you, just go do it, just do it man, don’t think about it. Just go do it, get out there and have some fun. Fulfill your desires, because you are just an advanced monkey. That’s what they say. So that’s why our governments concentrate on that – most of them live by laws.

Whose laws are they? They are monkey laws. They are sophisticated monkey laws. Laws made by monkeys for other monkeys. That’s it. A bunch of monkeys in parliament making some rules for other monkeys. It’s more of a monkey business. The most of them live by laws of the jungle, really. The law of the jungle because we are just monkeys, right.

So what do they do, the governments, they concentrate on more and more people who have the chance to vote. What do they vote for? What do they look for in their governments masha’Allah, is he a pious person, does he fear Allah, does he want to judge by the book of Allah? Does he implement Islam?

We look at: ‘Is this man gonna make me richer, is he gonna make my economy stronger, is he gonna give me more health care, is he gonna make things cheaper for us? Are we gonna have s more comfortable life?

That’s what we look for, and with most democratic governments, the ones who get into power get into power because they can persuade the people that they are gonna make you richer.

Bill Clinton.  You know how he won? He won his election with one phrase: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

That’s it. It’s economy. It’s all about money. It’s all about wealth. I mean these people say they are Christians. Our politicians, they claim these things but how many of them stand up and say, how many times you hear Bush or Blair or anyone of those so called Christian leaders of so called Christian countries say you know how to be happy? If you wanna be happy believe in Jesus. Is that what they say. Vote for me because of Jesus. I’m gonna bring Jesus into your life. Is that what they say, no they don’t say that.

They say vote for me because I’ll make you more money. I’ll make you more happy. With materialistic things, we will improve your economy. We will give you health care, we will improve your social security.

The same with our Muslim leaders. The same things. That’s what they are claiming. They don’t say: “My brothers and sisters, you know what, I’m afraid our economy will go down, we know we will not have so much money but you know what, we will live by the lord of Allah.”

Who says that? We are Muslim by name, but we don’t know what Dheen means. Because we just want the money.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe we are just sophisticated monkeys. We just like the banana, the shelter and the sex. Huh… that’s how we keep us happy.

No brothers, no sisters.

So this is the philosophy, evolution. So we brought the philosophy of evolution. No we’ve got just like a religion has to have Ibadha, muslims we have salat, we have zakat, we have Ramadan, sure the materialistic culture have it.

That’s what it is, music. Music is the worship of materialistic culture, the Quran of Shaithan [satan]. That is why the shaithan calls the people to his guidance, to his materialism with music. That’s what it’s all about.

Yeah… and you see that, you listen to that, you see how they behave [very loud music sounds coming from outside of the carnival stage]. It’s very strange, why they need to fill their lives with this music. Think about it. What’s it all for, why do they need this music? Because their lives are so empty.

They have nothing in their lives. They have no understanding, they have no guidance, they have no comprehension, so they need to fill their emptiness with this noise.

It’s a substitute. That’s what it is. There’s no understanding, music, and you see them dancing. Dancing the music [makes drumming sound] like that – hours and hours of dancing dancing dancing. For hours and hours and hours.

I remember watching a documentary, when they went and filmed these people… they will put up these big speakers and they would start the music. They were dancing dancing dancing and there was this one guy, it was 7:00am in the morning, 7:00am in the morning, and these guys have been dancing all night.

I remember back in the days when I used to do that stuff. We used to go to discos. And you are to finish at like 3:00am or 4:00am in the morning. But these guys were still going on at 7:00am in the morning.

Subhanallahi (Glory be to Allah). The cameramen was interviewing this guy and was asking “Why do you come here, why do you dance, what’s it all for?”

You what he says? “Because I have this boring job, I have this boring life, but I come here and I dance and I dance and I dance till I forget myself. Until I forget myself.”

That’s what it’s all about: forgetting yourself, getting lost, living in a world of fantasy and escapism. That’s what it’s all about. Drugs and alcohol. What it’s all about. Why people take heroin, why people drink alcohol, why the people smoke marijuana, because they want to escape.

And look at the words they use: “I got stoned. I was wasted. I was got high. I was out of it.”

What does that describes? They describe, my brothers and sisters, self-annihilation: “I destroy myself.”

“I was like a stone.” What feeling does a stone have? None. “I was wasted. Out of it.” Out of what?

You see these people, they go drinking drinking drinking and they come home, in the morning, and you know what, they come home and they get sick. Blurrr… and they fall asleep, yeah really.

We have a problem in England, because police on Saturday night are so busy looking after people who are drunk and drowned in their own vomit.

That’s alcohol. That’s what happens. They are so drunk and then they wake-up in the morning and say ooh.. I had such a good time last night. You had a good time? What did you do? “Say, I don’t remember. That’s why I had a good time.”

The more they forget the more of the good time they had. And that’s what it’s all about: music makes you forget. Lost in music, I’m lost in music. I forget, I’m drunk, I forget. I watch the TV, I watch the movies, I’m in the fantasy world.”

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Salaf’s ”The Call” launches this weekend

Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf’s event ”The Call’ 2010 will start this evening at 20:30pm.

Two well known scholars from abroad would deliver seven sermons on different topics. The two scholars are Dr Bilal Philips from Canada and Br Abdurraheem Green from the United Kingdom.

The sermons are to be held at different venues.

Tonight Dr Bilal Philips would be delivering a sermon on the topic ”Liv’Islam” at Alimas Carnival stage.

Tomorrow afternoon Dr Bilal Philips is scheduled to deliver another sermon at the same venue at 4:15pm on the topic ”Why do we need a religion”.

That evening at 8:30pm Br Abdurraheem Green is scheduled to deliver a sermon at the same venue on the topic ”Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll”.

On June 5, Br Abdurraheem Green would deliver a sermon in Dharubaaruge at 4:15pm, on the topic ”Women’s rights in Islam”. On the same evening at the same venue at 8:30pm Dr Bilal Philips will deliver a sermon on the topic ”Qur’an-Is there more to it”.

On June 4, Dr Bilal Philips will deliver a sermon at Thaajuddeen School at 4:15pm on the topic ”Belief in Allah”. On the same day at 8:30pm in the evening, Br Abdurraheem Green would deliver a sermon on the topic ”Towards a peaceful Society” at Alimas Carnival.

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Apostate publicly repents and rejoins Islam, after counselling

A Maldivian man who publicly declared himself an apostate during a speech by Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik on Friday evening has repented and offered a public apology on Television Maldives (TVM).

Mohamed Nazim gave Shahada – the Muslim testimony of belief – during a press conference held at the Islamic Ministry today.

He also apologised for causing “agony for the Maldivian people”, and said “major misconceptions I had regarding Islam have been clarified.”

He further requested that the community accept him back into society.

After describing himself to Dr Naik as “Maldivian but not a Muslim” on Friday night, Nazim was escorted from Maafaanu stadium by Islamic Ministry officials into police custody. Several officers were attacked for trying to protect Nazim when members of the crowd turned violent, calling for his death.

The following day the Islamic Foundation NGO issued a press release calling for Nazim to be executed under Islamic law if he failed to repent.

Apostasy is considered a grave sin under Islam, although scholarly opinion varies as to its punishment: in response to Nazim’s question, Dr Naik clarifed that the penalty was only death “if the person becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his faith and speaks against Islam. Just because a person who is a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim, death penalty is not the ruling.”

Speaking after the press conference today, Deputy Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Farooq told newspaper Haveeru that Nazim had reverted to Islam “on freewill” after the Ministry had sent two scholars to counsel him while he was in custody.

“[After] two days of counseling he said that his misconceptions had been clarified and that he wanted to become a Muslim,” Sheikh Farooq told Haveeru.

President of Islamic NGO Jammiyyathu Salaf Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohamed Ibrahim told Minivan News he was very happy to hear of Nazim’s repentance and thanked God, adding that incident has “damaged the good name of the country.”

He further said that there were “many people trying to introduce other religions to the Maldives underground”, and that he would “release the names of these underground people at the appropriate time.”

”The incident was the result of a lack of Islamic studies in the school curriculum,” he said. ”That is one of the reasons why such things as this happen.”

The Adhaalath Party said it welcomed Nazim’s repentance and congratulated him for re-embracing Islam.

Police have meanwhile yet to reveal whether Nazim has been released from custody.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the court had decided that Nazim should be released, but he would not reveal whether police had yet done so.

“Police will analyse the situation,” Shiyam said, regarding Nazim’s safety.

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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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Salaf dismisses feminist campaign to withdraw support for ”The Call”

Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has hit back at feminist movement Rehendhi and the ‘Enough is Enough’ group after they called on sponsors to withdraw support from the upcoming Salaf-hosted event, ‘The Call’.

At a press conference today, Salaf said it did not consider the voice of an unregistered, underground NGO “as an official complaint”.

Mohamed Sobah, Secretary General of Salaf who spoke on behalf of the NGO, said that “all NGOs and all Maldivians support the event”, which will feature talks and lectures from visiting Islamic scholar Dr Bilal Philips.

”There might be a few people who are concerned that a professional western scholar is to arrive to the Maldivies,” Sobah said.

Sobah said that as Salaf was a registered NGO,  it did not have to deal with “unlawful, unregistered and underground” groups.

”No one has officially complained about the event,” Sobah said. ”It is surprising that they fear to face us, and it is confusing because they use the internet to raise their voice while we are accessible easily anytime.”

Sobah said that the two visiting scholars, Dr Bilal Phillips and Dr Abdul Raheem Green, would deliver seven lectures on different topics.

”We are working to enhance the security and solving some other technical problems,” he said. ”We hope this event will be a very successful event.”

On May 5 Salaf has announced it would host ‘The Call’, a series of religious sermons to which it expects more than 10,000 people to attend.

Dr Bilal Philips was brought to the Maldives by Salaf last year. Many people attended the sermon and reportedly more than 100,000 people watched it via media.

The Maldives’ self-styled ‘underground feminist movement’ Rehendhi last week announced joint letter writing campaign with the ‘Enough is Enough’ group in protest against Sonee Company’s intention to sponsor the lecture.

They issued a press statement 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.”

Sonee Company, reported by Rehendhi as one of the targets of the campaign, said it did not wish to comment on the matter at this time.

Correction: The original press statement from the Rehendhi group referred to ‘Sonee Company’, not ‘Sonee Hardware’ as previously stated in this article. Minivan News apologises for any confusion caused.

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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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Strengthen Islam before introducing comparative religion, say Adhaalath and Salaf

The Adhaalath Party and religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf have said they will not support the study of comparative religion in the Maldives until understanding of the basic principles are strengthened.

The introduction of the subject at a tertiary level was proposed last week by State Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, who said it was taught in many Islamic universities across the world and would help Maldivians “learn how to deal with other philosophies, learn about what others believe, the differences between us and them, and what is the right side.”

“It is my belief that by the end of people should know that Islam is the truth,” he said.

In the lead up to the launch of the course, the Islamic Ministry is preparing to legalise the possession of books concerning other religions, such as the bible, “for educational and research purposes”, Shaheem told Minivan News on Thursday.

However President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed said today that the government should not introduce comparative religion to the country “before the people understand the basic principles of Islam.”

Sheikh Hussein said that before introducing comparative religion the government should teach Islam in more advanced manner.

”People today do not know the basic principles of Islam,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”It is not good to introduce comparative religion before people know all the basic principles of Islam.”

He claimed that Maldivians had moved away from religion over the past thirty years.

“As a result, today there is nobody to respect religion, teachers and leaders,” he said.

He said there were many people who doubted some religious matters, and the study of comparative religion would only increase those doubts.

Sheikh Hussein added that it was good to teach comparative religion at a university level, “but only after making the teaching of Islam more advanced.”

He also noted that there were no qualified teachers to teach comparative religion in the country.

”There might be a scholar who has studied it as a subject, but it does not mean he is qualified to teach it,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”I also studied psychology when I studied, but does not mean I am a psychologist.”

He said that in general principle the study of comparative religion at a university level was a good idea.

However he added that he had information that the government was trying to introduce comparative religion at a secondary level, which ”the Adhaalath Party will try to stop from happening by any means necessary.”

Shaheem emphasised on Thursday that the subject should not be taught at a secondary level “because [students’] minds are not [yet] prepared to deal with these philosophies.”

President of Jamiyyathul Salaf Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Ibrahim today agreed with Sheikh Hussein that people should understand Islam comprehensively before comparative religion was introduced.

Sheikh Abdulla said there were some necessary subjects of Islam many people in the Maldives did not yet understand or were not being taught.

”Only a few people understand the ‘Tafsir’ [exegesis] of Quran,” he said, adding that ”knowledge of other religions is already taught in verses of Quran and Hadith.”

He emphasised that people should be taught more about Islamic theology before it was compared with other religions.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said the government would introduce the study of comparative religion “in anyway the Islamic Ministry prefers”, and noted the decision over whether to introduce comparative religion at a secondary or university level was yet to be decided.

”There are no disadvantages to teaching comparative religion in the Maldives,” Zuhair said. ”We will discuss everything [in cabinet] and we are looking forward to introducing the subject for next year.”

President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Saleem, said he thought that introducing the subject of comparative religion was “a good idea.”

“I welcome it. I think it’s a good opportunity for people to really understand Islam,” he said.

“I don’t think anybody else has talked about it [before it was raised by Shaheem]. You have a right to know – these books were all sent by God – even those about Christianity and Judaism.”

Saleem noted that it was technically legal for a Maldivian man to marry a Jewish or a Christian woman, as “they are all people of the book.”

However it was illegal for a Maldivian woman to marry a Christian or a Jewish man, he said.

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Salaf sents letter to Islamic ministry to clarify concerned issues

Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has sent a letter to the Islamic Ministry seeking to clarify issues concerning the Islamic Ministry and the  implementation of Shari’ah law in the Maldives.

The letter was sent to the ministry last Tuesday and was to the addressed to the Minster of Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Baary.

There were more than 15 issues the NGO appealed the ministry to clarify, including:

  • Details of how the Islamic Ministry acted on the issue of appointing females as judges and president
  • The issue of massage parlours and how they are being dealt with
  • How the ministry is acting against people who form isolated congregations
  • Details of the conversation had with the residents of Himandhoo, after they formed an isolated congregation, and the result of that conversation
  • How much freedom [the ministry] has given the Imams to worship according to the Sunnah.
  • To clarify if the ministry had information that someone had tried or was trying to build a church in the country

Vice president of Jamiyyathul Salaf Sheikh Hussein Moosa Fikry said that the letter was signed by the President of Salaf on behalf of the NGO.

”The objective of the letter was to clarify some doubts we have concerning the ministry and the government,” Fikry said.

”We have noticed that the government including the Adhaalath Party and the Maldivian Democratic Party had approved some laws contrary to the Islamic Shari’ah.”

Fikry said that there were also some recent issues Salaf wanted the ministry to clarify.

”We have included many issues, such as we do not know what happened to the issue of the Quran translation,” he said. ”We also want find out if the ministry is trying to re-build the Arabiyya school building.”

He said that the NGO had noticed that some unIslamic news articles were also sometimes circulated and claimed the ministry was not taking any action.

The Minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Baari said that he had no information about the letter sent by Salaf.

”I do not know whether if they sent a letter,” he said, ”I don’t know about it.”

Spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry Sheikh Ahmadulla also said he also had no information concerning receipt of the letter.

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NGO coalition joins forces with Adhaalath Party in protest against new alcohol regulations

The Adhaalath Party has held a joint press conference with a coalition of NGOs against the sale or use of alcohol on inhabited islands.

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, speaking on behalf of the Adhaalath Party, said the message for the government was that ”the consumption and sale of alcohol in a place where Muslims live is unacceptable”, and that the protest would continue until the president invalidated the new regulation.

He suggested that everyone taking part in the protest, which will start at the artificial beach following Asru prayers, should dress in white.

”We will not be violent and we will not call for the resignation of anybody,” he said.

Sheik Adam Naseem said the Prophet (PBUH) had advised all Muslims to stay away from alcohol as it was ”the mother of all the sins”, and said the new regulations made afraid that the country’s teenagers would be led down the wrong path.

The Vice President of Islamic NGO Jamiyyath-al-Salaf, Hassan Moosa Fikree, called on “all the people who love Islam” to take part in the protest.

He said the government had given “a deaf ear” to the organisation’s words and had not responded to any of their letters.

”We cannot be stopped until we achieve what we want,” he said. “In Islam [alcohol] is haram.”

He questioned why the government was trying to “find a loophole” to allow the sale of alcohol on inhabited islands. “Everybody is against it; each and every person,” he said.

Fikree distinguished between inhabited islands and resorts.

“There’s definitely a distinction because resort have regulations,” he said. “Civilians can’t visit resorts regularly any time they want, and there are special rules such as areas of resorts that Maldivians can’t visit. There is a big difference between inhabited islands and resort islands because resorts have regulations and these resorts are especially designed and invented for tourism.”

Permanent Secretary for the Islamic Ministry Mohammed Didi said that while there might “technically” be a problem with resorts profiting from the sale of alcohol, the ministry was not saying anything about the resort businesses.

“For the last 30 years the Maldives has sold alcohol in resort islands. The ministry is not saying anything about the resort businesses, only inhabited islands and the new regulations,” he said.

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