It came as shocking news for several people, specially the youth of Maldives, to hear that the discos organized in order to celebrate the New Year was banned by the Islamic Affairs Ministry. And it was more shocking that the Islamic Ministry advised the police to stop such discos that were planned to be held at different locations at Male’ including Dharubaaruge and Olympus. For some people the decision by Dr.Majeed is perfect while others see it as highly extreme. However, I believe that there are certain things that should have been looked into, before making such statements and decisions.
If we look at the Islamic history, it is evident that certain laws were implemented slowly in a step by step basis. Also the first objective was to increase the ‘eemaan’ or faith of the people. When Islam came into existence the Arabs were in a dark age. They were drunkards, rapists, killers etc. And with the introduction of Islam they were not ordered to stop drinking at the very first.
Alcohols or intoxicants were forbidden in three main stages. At the first stage, Muslims were asked not to attend prayers while they were intoxicated. With this restriction some people preferred not to drink at all, while others still did drink but lesser then usual. In a later verse of the Quran it was revealed that alcohol contains some good and some evil, but the evil is greater than the good. Even at this stage the consumption of alcohol was not forbidden. But several Muslims, as a sign of obedience and love to God, stopped drinking and others minimized the amount of consumption. Finally it was revealed that intoxicants were abominations of Satan’s handiwork which would turn people away from God and forget about prayer, and therefore Muslims were ordered to abstain from drinking.
Looking at this process of forbidding alcohol in Islam, we know that Islam does not implement barriers in a sudden. Rather Islam tries to do things in a way that people could and would accept it. If we look at Maldives, though Maldives is labeled a 100% Muslim country, it is obvious that Maldives is not a Muslim country. A higher percentage of the Maldivians do not practice Islam even to a minimum.
In my point of view, this been the case, Dr.Majeed should have thought about the consequences of such a ‘sudden’ decision. First of all many of the discos were not cancelled though the turnout was less then expected. Secondly the decision by Dr.Majeed created a rage, though it should not be the case, in the hearts of young people towards the new government.
Now it is important to think what the consequences would be if one forces a person into a mosque though the person does not even know how to pray. Would it make the person want to pray five times a day? Would it want the person to learn how to pray? Or would it make the person hate Islam?
-thadu-
We can already see that…dj majeeds wallpapers and several hate posts in dhivehi blogosphere .. the problem is many still believe our country is 100% Muslim which obliviously we are not.. with my estimate at least 10 – 20 % of our country is non Muslims (Christians atheist…etc)..and from that remaining 80% ..lets say less than half practices Islam as it should be…
very good. this is the only one i saw that defends Islam on this issue. the Maldivian blog-sphere is filled with hate on this issue. but no one else considered Islam when talking about it. good one brother. keep it up.
can not agree more!
thee kaleymenge faadu
meehaku ragalhu kameh kureeyaa abadhuves onnanee goas kuranvefa.. dheen ei hithuhuru gothakah enburey echeh noonay moyayaa
this article looks great, but one thing i want you to understand is that islam is now complete and we have to follow which ever order in the religion. the process of banning alcohol on that time was like that, because it was not prohibited at that time. but now it is. the problem is we have been kept without any proper islamic education for more than 20 years. but i hope people will become more aware cos islamic affairs and some NGO’s like Jamiyathsalaf is propagating it. lets hope and dhua.