UN Officials meet with Adhaalath Party

Adhaalath Party met with the visiting delegation from the United Nations on 31st July. Dr. Mauroof Hussain (former Vice President of Adhaalath party), met with Mr Tamrat Samuel (Chief of Asia and Pacific Affairs) and Mr Hitoki Den (Senior Political Affairs Officer) both of them officials of Department of Political Affairs of the UN. They are visiting Maldives to explore way of assisting Maldives in coming out of the current political crisis. The meeting was also attended by UN Resident Coordinator for Maldives, Mr Andrew Cox and other officials. The causes of the current political turmoil and possible measures that can be taken were discussed in the meeting.
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Adhaalath condemns Musthafa Luthufee and calls for nationwide protest against his decision to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects.

Adhaalath Party head office ordered all its branches in the islands to mobilize themselves and protest against the incumbent Education Minister’s decision to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects. In a strongly worded press release today, Adhaalath Party condemned the action of Musthafa Luthufee in the harshest possible terms.
Mr. Luthufee’s announcement came as a surprise as he had said during the last meeting with Adhaalath officials that he will take the matter to the Cabinet or to the Parliament before making a decision. The apparently unilateral action is clearly against the manifesto of the MDP coalition. It is against the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the parents.
Mr. Luthufee should have learnt a lesson or two from the recent controversy created by the Youth Ministry regarding the venue of Dr Zakir’s lecture. Or the controversy about selling alcohol in inhabited islands. But obviously our Education Minister is a slow learner. His action amounts to political hara-kiri. It appears that in his zeal to secularize the education of this Muslim nation, he has put the final nails in his political coffin.
One wonders what is wrong with these people. They seem to be obsessed with creating one controversy after another. According to them every issue has to be decided on the streets. If they think that the people of Maldives will let them have their way, they are clearly mistaken. Coming days will tell. Insha Allah.
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The youth ministry finally agrees to give the track grounds for Dr Zakir’s lecture.

Last night, in the TVM program “Rajje Miadhu” (Maldives Today), the youth Minister finally announced that he will give the grounds for Dr Zakir’s lecture. This came after a totally unnecessary controversy which has added further clarity to the public perception that this government or many in this government are causing obstruction to Islamic activities. By all appearances the decision was a relenting to the public outcry rather than an act of goodwill. The public was furious that the concerned ministry was making petty excuses in not giving the most suitable ground available to hold this important event. So they expressed their opinion in the many calls and sms sent to Mr. Hassan Latheef. It is naive on the part of Mr. Hassan Latheef to think that the people of Maldives will gladly accept the foolish excuses and he has no justification to complain about the many sms and the calls. If one is bold enough to play with fire, he should expect some heat also.
In the program, one Sarangu Aadham Manik, (who calls himself as “Adam”) who happens to be the current chief of Male’ Municipality made a show of his own displeasure about bringing Dr Zakir Naik. He tried to slight and insult Dr Zakir by saying that Dr Naik was a mere ‘tele evangelist’ and a medical doctor. He displayed his ignorance of the fact that Dr Zakir is the world’s foremost debater on Islam and comparative religion. In this way Dr Zakir is the nightmare of every anti Islamic man. Because Dr Zakir has got a photographic memory which has absorbed the religious scriptures of all the major religions and he has the debating skills. No wonder many people are really put off by his name.
Mr. “ Adam” accused that the Islamic Ministry is trying to create a “hype” about this. But it was Hassan Latheef and people like himself who helped to create the hype in the first place by refusing to give the venue and creating a totally needless controversy. In this way they have actually helped to advertize the event.

The current hurdle about the grounds may be over. But we should be aware that there are many in the current establishment who are furious that a world class celebrity like Dr Zakir Naik is coming to lecture in Maldives. Despite their pathetic attempts to slight Dr Zakir (by saying that he is a medical doctor, a ‘tele evangelist’ and that he is not a traditional ‘Islamic scholar’ etc), they know very well what an influential man Dr Zakir is what an influence his lectures might have on the youth of this nation.
We call upon President Nasheed to be wiser and more receptive to the public sentiments. He can certainly do without these unnecessary controversies.

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Stop meddling with the national curriculum!

It has come to our notice that plans are afoot for making a major change in the national curriculum by making the two subjects, Islam and Dhivehi optional . A high ranking delegation of Adhaalath party met the Minister of Education to make clarification on the issue and it was confirmed that the Ministry is seriously planning to do it. Responding to the objections of the Adhaalath officials, the Minister said that he was serious on the issue and will not stop it and if objections are raised he will take the matter to the cabinet or the parliament to decide. Adhaalath delegation made it clear that the issue is directly related to the masses and cannot be decided by a few people in the cabinet or the parliament. If anyone, be it the cabinet or the parliament, decided to implement this, Adhaalath will take the issue to the masses.
In the recent national convention (“Mahaasinthaa”) on the national curriculum, the importance of Islam and Dhivehi in national education process was appreciated by the parents and those in the field of education. The decision to make these two subjects optional is a callous disregard to the resolutions of the “Mahaasinthaa”. It is against the aspirations of the parents.
The sole purpose of higher secondary education is not just securing enough marks in three subjects so that students can enter a university. Rather, one of the goals in this critical period of the education process should be giving the individual a sound foundation on which he can continue his further studies so that whichever field he chooses, he comes back as a Muslim and a Maldivian.
If these two subjects are made optional, very few students will take them as they are not required for any stream of study in most of the universities. Presently, the foreign students studying in our schools walk out when the Islam or Dhivehi periods are being taken. It is totally inconceivable when some or most of the Maldivian students have to walk out of class during these periods! Such a situation is preposterous!
The whole things smacks of a long term plan to strip the younger generations of Maldivians from the two essential ingredients of what makes them Maldivians. Namely, the Islamic religion and our language and culture. The prominent men and women who have spent most of their lifetime in the field of education are alarmed by this newfangled notion. Every Maldivian should resist it. Tooth and nail.
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The President in a dilemma again - Affan Didi and his ilk or the nation?

Affan Abdullah Didi is the prototype of the anti Islamic, secularist and unpatriotic Maldivian about whom the vast majority of Maldivians couldn’t are less. This person is doing a Facebook campaign against Adhaalath party. He alleges that we are trying to make Maldives a new Afghanistan and is making a petition asking the president not to gazette the regulation on religious unity. As expected, the president seems to have swayed towards the lunatic fringe, again. He has postponed the gazetting of the regulation, his press secretary making pathetic excuses, as usual. Similar was his action during the controversy about allowing the sale of alcohol in inhabited islands. He made the wrong assumption that people who were against it were a few "mullahs" till the Maldivian people came out en mass to remind him that he happen to be the head of a 100% Muslim country, a fact which he seems to forget every other day. The people made it clear that they were against the sale of alcohol in inhabited islands. The whole thing only helped to make an increasingly unpopular president more unpopular. We feel the present controversy also will end in a similar manner.

What is in question is the enforcing of a regulation which is in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the Maldivian constitution.

It is high time for our president to make up his mind. Whether to rule the nation respecting the sentiments of the 95% of the nation or should he be a tool for a few misguided, anti Islamic people with vested interests.
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Who is afraid of Islam?

Few days ago some anonymous people have put banners on the street corners of Male', written "Stop using Islam as a political weapon!".


Is this related to the current issue about the Regulation on the Religious Unity of Maldives? Very likely.

Only two conclusions can be drawn about these people: (1) They are totally ignorant about the reality of Islam being a system of life encompassing all spheres, be it personal, domestic, political or national or international. They have the mistaken notion that Islam should be confined to the mosques and the homes. Or (2) They are against Islam and are alarmed by the growing influence and awareness among the masses of this country. So they make such cowardly attempts (no names written on the banners) hoping it will drive a wedge between those working for Islam and the masses..

We suspect the latter is the real motive behind these shameful attempts.. They will not succeed, Insha Allah..!
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Maldives awaiting the great scholar of comparative religion – Dr Zakir Naik

Dr Zakir Naik is a household name in Maldives. He is renowned for his debating skills, his photographic memory and vast knowledge of various religions. It is a great and long overdue honor that this scholar visits this brotherly nation.
Efforts are underway to make this visit a great success. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs is collaborating with a large number of NGOs in addition to media and various government agencies. The main speech will be held in the “Kulhivaru Ekuveni” grounds and accommodation will be made for a gathering of 10, 000. The speech will last 3 hours and will be on the topic “misconceptions about Islam”.
Dr Zakir’s visit is expected to ruffle some feathers here. It will cause anguish to the anti Islamic people within and outside the establishment. We hope that they do not resort to desperate and cowardly measures like they did during the recent visit by Dr Bilal Philips.
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