Maldives is facing a growing problem of radical Islam and with the crude home-made bomb that went off recently in the Sultan Park, it is clear that hard line views and intolerance has exploded into dangerous violence.
Last year a UN rapporteur on Freedom of Religion who visited the country was accused of, "trying to undermine the Islamic Unity of the Maldives," by then Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel. Now UN has sent another Shari’ah Law expert to Malé. Mohammad Hashim Kamali who is Shari’ah advisor to Government bodies in Malaysia and South Africa has said the ban on freedom of religion in the Maldives is a “disservice to Islam.” He urged that the 64,000 expatriates living in the Maldives, “should be able to open schools for their children and practice their faith openly.”
It appears that political unity is only possible in Maldives when it comes to religion. All the four main parties uniformly rejected Kamali's appeal. Radical Islam feeds off on this kind of intolerance and their agenda is to promote extremism and violence. The main opposition party MDP has said, it would be “political suicide” to advocate freedom of religion. Politicians do not resort to such desperate tactics for they are too busy looking after their personal interests. Some of them can't even trust Maldivians to believe in their own religion. What these people fail to understand is that the freedom of religion is given to human beings by Islam that imposes no compulsion of faith on its believers. They don't deny that this is a fact revealed in Quran. Yet, they continue the intolerance as though it is politically correct to do so. We need to change this attitude if are we to reverse the tide of radical Islam and its extremism. We have witnessed the folly of misinformation in Hinmadhoo and elsewhere in Maldives that has led us to unexpected crisis.
Muslims should live as good Muslims because of the personal conviction in their faith and not only because some experts or politicians force them to do so.
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5 comments:
What a bunch of cowards these politicians are.
Umm. What exactly do you mean by "freedom of religion" being guaranteed in Islam? What are its boundaries and/or circumstances? Would be interesting to hear your opinion... :)
Hi jaa
Tks for the question.
What I said is that freedom of religion is given to human beings by Islam that imposes no compulsion of faith on its believers. Every individual is free to make their own choice to believe or not to believe in Islam. Once an individual embraces Islam, that individual is required to practice Islam and renoucing faith (which Kamali has said we should not allow in Maldives) would mean paying the penalty according to Sharia.
The intolerance is when Muslims refuse to allow believers of other faiths to practice their faith openly.
Ah I see. But every Maldivian is Muslim by birth. Everyone is brought up in it and practice it, atleast till they reach mental maturation. Is being born into it and imprinted a Muslim by the constitution embracing Islam? How does it allow freedom to choose belief... or disbelief for that matter. Also, what is the penalty in Sharia that you choose to accept? Apostasy carries capital punishment but a few modern scholars have argued it is no longer relevant. Are you ready to kill fellow Maldivians for apostasy?
I agree the matter in relation to expats and tourists is pretty simple. But when it comes to Maldivians I think the matter is a bit more complicated than you make it out to be.
Hi jaa
Yes, every Maldivian is Muslim by birth according to our constitution.
Does this mean that every Maldivian child at a certain age of maturity has confessed to faith in Islam willingly, according to his knowledge of the fundamentals of Islam, by professing the two main articles of faith?
This point has to be determined and accepted if an individual is to be charged for apostasy in the event a Maldivian renoucing faith in Islam. It will be upto the State to decide whether to apply Sharia and impose death penalty. I don't believe any Maldivian should face death for exercising the right to choose one's faith. Apostasy for renoucing faith of a Muslim according to Sharia is a very complex matter.
I don't believe I have made this out to appear simple.
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