 |
 |
| Playing the Religious Card first published in Minivan News 21 April 2005
The threat of democracy and evangelical Christianity were the major
messages of the Maldive dictator's speech on National Day. It was no
surprise to hear Gayyoom combining these themes.
Informed tourists, financiers, diplomats, journalists and scholars writing about Maldives are sickened by Gayyoom's civil violence and torture, and angered by his childish trickery and fake promises of democratic reform. Pretending to be a reformer in English and then threatening his people in Dhivehi is an old game that fools no one anymore, particularly when Dhivehi Observer and Minivan News promptly translate his Maldive speeches for the world to read. For many years, there has been a Christian Dhivehi language radio station transmitting into Maldives, first from Seychelles and more recently from Russia. Its efforts have been ineffectual as far as the vast majority of Maldivians are concerned, mainly because it has consistently attacked Islam. Historically, Christian writers have defamed and misrepresented the Jewish and Islamic religions, refusing to accept Muhammad as a prophet. The modern Christian evangelist missionary movement has inherited these ignorant ideas, even though they have been exposed and rejected by many modern Western scholars. Until recently, Moslems did not make the same mistake as the missionaries. Moslems respected Jesus Christ as a great prophet. The surviving Maldive religious records give prominence and respect to Jesus the prophet, just as the Maldive historical records show a continuing resistance against foreign attempts to Christianise the country. In the twentieth century, the nationalist myths created by Salahuddeen and Ameen Didi, based largely on the selective rewriting of stories from Buraara Mohamed Fulhu and the chief justices' Thareekh, promoted the idea of a brief but brutal Christian Portuguese colonisation of Maldives around 450 years ago. In Buraara's stories about that period, the word 'Christian' does not appear. The threat to Maldives Islam is described as coming from males urinating in an upright postion instead of squatting, and the only doctrine-based attacks at that time are against the Qadiri sect which is Islamic in origin. In fact, there was no colonisation of Maldives by the Portuguese, though Goa seems to have supported and traded with Andhiri Andhiri and Viyazoaru who together ruled the north of Maldives and Male' for 15 years after their successful attack in 1558. In the nineteenth century the British presented a Dhivehi translation of the Bible to the Maldives government. The fate of this book is unknown, and it was either destroyed or hidden. In any case, at that time, few Maldivians would have been capable of reading it. During Ibrahim Nasir's rule, a Christian evangelical programme was broadcast in English every night from Voice of Maldives radio. The Maldives government was paid to allow these shortwave broadcasts which were intended for India and Sri Lanka as well as Maldives. Most students attending English medium schools in Male' regularly tuned in, but there were no conversions. In 1972, a Christian missionary ship MV Logos visited Male' and school students were shown aboard with the blessing of President Nasir. The students received free Bibles but once again, no one converted. Despite Gayyoom's purge of popular Shia literature and practices in the 1980s, and their replacement with misogynist Saudi Wahhabi doctrines, Islamic belief among men and women in Maldives remains undiminished.
The translation was first published during the rule of Gayyoom's predecessor Ibrahim Nasir, and Gayyoom had refused to permit reprinting during his 27 year rule. This allowed the dictator and his selected Islamic scholars (chosen for their corruptibility and limited intelligence) to define the meaning of the Koran and excuse the dictator's deception, tyranny and torture. Gayyoom lied for years, telling Maldivians in Maldives and at Mecca during the Haj that his personal Dhivehi translation of the Koran was only months away from completion. The arrival of the old Nasir era Koran has rendered Gayyoom's translation irrelevant. As Maldivians read the Koran for themselves, the essentially irreligious nature of the dictator's regime is becoming apparent to all.
Gayyoom's accusations of Christian influence in reformist groups like Friends of Maldives (FOM) cannot be substantiated. FOM has foreign supporters from many religions, and its leadership, policies and funding are not religious. Gayyoom's revival of the old Christianity bogey to attack his opposition is a sign of the dictator's desperation and decreasing influence among Maldivians. His power rests not on Islam, but the use of intimidation and terror by his security service. |
Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldive cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
We invite contributions from Maldivians and others interested in Maldives.
Contributions and comments - mc_editors@hotmail.com