New Blog

Today I created my first wordpress blog. I would be spending more time in my new wordpress blog than the blogspot one. But I am not going to leave this blog either. From time to time I will keep updating this blog. After all old is gold. However, I find my new blog very interesting and I also promise myself that every day I will post a new article. I am also scared if I can follow my new promise. I hope this would not be like any other unfulfilled promises of mine . Anyways, I wanted to tell who ever is following this blog to also check my new blog www.diealiya.wordpress.com for new updates. That is if any is following this blog. . I also welcome comments from readers so that I will know people are reading my bad English 

Pandora in the eyes of Iraqis and Afghanis

Yesterday when I was watching the long-talked movie AVATAR, so many thoughts appeared in my mind. The movie was based on a war between powerful humans and powerless natives of Pandora called Na’vi, for pieces of stones or natural mineral buried around the village of Na’vis. This natural mineral has a very high price in the market. Na’vi’s are 6 feet tall human like creature with a tail. They prayed to a god called Eywa. They were happy aboriginals with their own language and sacred culture before humans invaded their world. The movie shows the year 2150’s. Human’s were, as usual, blessed with the heavy machinery equipments of new technology and fine brain that they were able to create a human conjoined Na’vi using the DNA of Na’vi and humans and the brain of human being where one can survive when the other is asleep in a kind of box with brain awake. The life of Na’vi is video recorded by the human Na’vi when the Na’vi is asleep. When I was watching the movie, words of my Afghani friend keep rolling in my mind. He said that in the movie you will see exactly how the American troops destroyed a agriculturally rich village in Afghanistan. However, I am not sure if Americans were after any natural resources in Afghanistan unlike in Iraq where there is a huge oil reserves that Americans were always after specially the petroleum company of President Bush. Having said this, it is also true that Afghanistan is a nation for varieties of fruits and valley with awesome landscapes. Additionally, Americans and its allies fought in Iraq although they did not find any WMD to declare war against a sovereign state. However, they destroyed saddam’s regime which they could have done in a more peaceful manner rather than killing innocent civilians.

In the movie, a guy named Jack, an ex-marine soldier who paralysed his legs while on the job become DNA created Na’vi. The Na’vi of him try to find a diplomatic solution to shift the Na’vis from the surrounding but it was too late because he already supplies enough information needed by the American troops to conduct a heavy loaded war against powerless Na’vi’s who got bows and arrows and their god. The scientist’s words were ignored and they declare war against this innocent people and invaded their village killing Na’vis. It was sad to see how war broke destroying their most sacred huge trees. It could be the same thing which happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans acquired modern war equipments and technology that they can trace and killed a person with less effort and more guns, missiles, explosives and so on. They might have bombed the mosques and historical buildings and took many lives. They might have destroyed houses of innocent people and take everything they have leaving them shelter less refugees. In the movie, at final scenes, Jack and his few friends manage to convince the Na’vis to fight against humans and save their land. They manage to defeat humans with the help of their god, Eywa. Would this be what is happening in present world?. It seems terror attacks were conducted by powerless to fight against powerful terrorists. However, the powerless are considered as terrorists and more terrorist attacks are conducted in the name of ‘war against terror’ with no end to it and no winning. In the movie, the Na’vi’s let few humans to stay with them and let others to leave their world, Pandora. In the final scene Jack choose to be a Na’vi leaving his human species. Whether it was for love because he fell in love with the daughter of the Na’vi’s leader or because his legs were paralysed as human and as Na’vi he gets his legs back. I am not sure of the reason. But I was not happy because he left the human species for another. But he might have a better reason too. It might be better off as kind other creature than a cruel human.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, women with deep inconsistency and hidden cause.

In one of my irregular book shops scanning day, my eyes caught in a book named infidel authored by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Instantly I went through it is summary, and I could not believe what she wrote about Islam. Indeed, it was expected as she once was brought up as Muslim in one of the failed state which led her to experience a tough time in her childhood. But this is not excuse of what she is exaggerating about Islam. I did not buy the book as I knew I may not be able to take it with me to my home country and also it might boil my blood. Later that day, I browse about her. She was born in Somalia to orthodox Islamic and political family. She wore hijab as a Muslim and her family migrated around Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Kenya before she obtained political asylum in Netherlands in 1992, under a political controversy. She denounced Islam after September 11, 2002 attack. She became elected as House of Representatives of Dutch parliament in 2003. The controversies regarding her Dutch citizenship led her to resign from the parliament. More importantly she lives under police protection following the death threat from Islamists group cause of her contribution to the Van Gogh’s movie ‘submission’. Currently she is a fellow in American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. She has been living in the United States since then. She has acquired number of prizes for her outspoken, fearless, courage (that is what West has described her) from the Europe, United States. She has been categorised as a critic of Islam and a feminist. She stand against her belief of women discrimination and other feminist issues in Islam such as female circumcision, child marriage, freedom of expression and so on. She has connected all these social evils to Islam. She has not only criticised Quran, but also the Prophet (pbuh). She worked for assimilation of immigrant population and detaches them from Islamic principles. In one of her debate against Tariq Ramadan, she was only talking about the feminist issues in Islam. I feel she lack a basic knowledge of Islam. She hardly knows what she was talking about. She keep on referring we Muslim, while she is already denounced Islam and named herself as an ‘atheist’. She has no right to call herself Muslim anymore. She also called Tariq Ramadan that he is inconsistent while I find this lady more inconsistent. She took part in the protest against Salam Rushdi’s ‘satanic verse’ and now she is worse than Salman Rushdi. Her controversies against Dutch citizenship and trying to intertwined her childhood experience to religion misleading thousands of people for the sake of fame if cannot be inconsistency, then what other name can we suit it. She worse hijab and now wear western clothes and still is vowing that she has not lost her identity. Come on lady, you already lost your identity when u became Dutch citizen and denounced Islam. I feel she is a puppet of the west who craved for their wealth and material fame. She has fallen for neo-colonialism propaganda and gave up everything good in her. In my opinion she is not a feminist, she is targeting Islam only, she is just desperate for material fame. She calls for freedom of expression and rights of the individual when she is misleading and destroying rights of thousands of Muslims. In social justice, each and everyone is equal. If she can speak exaggerated false statements about a one particular religion and disturb the peace then she had indeed is not worse than a criminal. If her cause was innocent, then she should have not targeted Islam. If she is capable she should know the differences in religious verdicts and social and cultural evils present in societies cause of social agencies. She should have not said that what Bin Laden’s fatwa is presented in Qur’an and is intolerant book. If west has considered her a knowledgeable person, the she should know that anyone can translate verses according to their agenda. If her iman is pure and powerful she could not have fallen for the acts of cowards. She deserves to be punished for causing emotional harm to thousands of people and disrespecting their rights to worship.

Revival of Female circumcision in the Maldives

I knew about female circumcision when I was in high school. A friend told to a group of us that her Aunt was circumcised when she was young. I never gave much thought to what she said may be because I was just ignorant. Since then I never heard about it untill I saw a documentary on Muslim female circumcision in North Africa. The interviews of many parties involved were included; as some denied that female circumcision was Islamic but in fact is a tradition and culture of the specific tribes or regions. Authors have said that it was more traditional or cultural belief than a religiously motivated as there is no evidence in religious texts regarding female circumcisions. Recently, I saw headline on a female circumcision outbreak in South of Maldives posted on Haveeru daily news paper. It seems that it was a religious jurists or theologians who are issuing fatwa among midwives regarding the female circumcision. However, the issue was brought to media by the attorney general who seems has authentic sources of such information. But when I went through some comments made by readers, the readers are not very sure about the authenticity of the issue. Hence, I am not sure if it is a tool used to achieve political agenda or it is revived in Maldives again. Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, has said that male circumcision is important rite of initiation in Islam however, there is nothing in the religious sources, Qur’an and Sunnah, which suggests that it is prescribed ritual of initiation for women in Islam. Moreover, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) indicated and ordered pagan males who converted to Islam to undergo circumcision but there is no evident that the Prophet ordered female converts to undergo circumcision. Hence, as the Prophet did not mention clearly about female circumcision, it is evident that female circumcision is not obligatory in Islam and it was not rooted from historical Islam and is not a principle of Islam. Moreover as many jurists argued that it is more cultural and reinvention to the tradition by the people. Hence, it is also possible that whatever is happening in Maldives is influenced by the cultural aspects of another nation or region where the theologians have acquired their education. Likewise, may be a tactic used by these jurists to revive Islam in Maldives as they fear current situation in Maldives is contributing to the deviations from authentic Islam. There is also possibility that the politicians are just spreading rumours to achieve a political agenda. Whatever is the reason, it is not very ethical thing to attach religion to these kinds of acts and mislead people. These reinventions to religion is one of the reason why the ‘others’ got chance to criticize Islam. They always use this kind of things to blame Islam as religion and the actions of current Muslims indeed, are giving them opportunity to succeed in their propaganda against Islam. Hence, Maldivians need to be more cautious.

Pay Cut Protests

When a friend told to me that he has a letter for me to sign, I did sense that it was something related to the recent protests around Maldives on pay cuts. There was a cut in government official’s salaries up to 5-20% to deal with the current economic crises and budget deficit. The pay cut came months after it was raised without allowances by new government. The increased in salary however, was not enough for a person with family and lives in a rented place in Male’. The prices of goods and properties also rose during this time where the increased salaries had a zero impact as a result. But surprisingly, the decrease in civil servants salary while some independent commissions and members of parliament got away without any reduction caused many civil servants to protest against this discrimination. The people who are representing the sentiments of the citizens are enjoying their full high salary and benefits while people who have more responsibilities suffered a reduction in their salary. Additionally, it seems the forecast budget with 4.7 billion deficits does not have a reserve to accommodate increase in salary if any is to happen next year. This contradicts with the president’s promise that a three month survey would be conducted and if economy is recovering then they would increase the salary of civil servants. But so far the action of government does not seem that they have any intention of increasing the salary in near future. As a result of these broken promises, a group of Maldivians are trying to get as many sign as possible to bring the attention of members of parliaments. They are hoping that their elected members may debate the issue in the parliament and willingly accept the reduction in their heavy salary. Moreover, the letters does not specifically say to increase civil servants salary but it says to cut salary of members of parliament so that there will not be differential treatment. Some are reluctant to sign these letters because they know that thing would not change anything as benefits will remain in the hands or powerful. The group argue that if their MP’s did not take action, then people will think twice before they cast their vote in next term. I am not sure if it is going to happen. The votes of people are usually bought by powerful MP’s so whether you like it or not you cast your vote for the MP who you knew once withheld your compliant. One thing I did not like is when people bring the excuse of previous government’s resistance to justify the reluctance of today. But in reality people are not sure what they want now. They wanted change and they brought it, now that they brought the change they regret it. But it is also true ‘we will never know the outcome unless we try’- so here we go again another protest against pay cuts.

The Summer Vacation in The Gold Coast

I was looking forward to a chance to escape from the Melbourne since my vacation began. My wish came true when a friend asked me to join them on a trip to the Gold Coast. We stayed for 3 nights in a mesmerizingly beautiful service apartment, Chevron towers. We left Melbourne in the morning in Tiger airways and arrived the Gold Coast at 830 am. We checked into our apartments at around 11am. We had fish and chips for lunch and for the first time I saw calamari dish. The day was hot and sunny but we roamed around aspendale beach. We also roamed around Q-Deck and took a ride in one of the fastest lift in the world to 77th floor of Q-Deck tower. Q-Deck tower is designed in a way that you can get a 360 degree view of the Gold Coast. We headed to home from the Q-Deck and freshen up and went out for dinner. The night view was nice and peaceful. The roads were not crowded and shops were opened till 9pm I suppose unlike Melbourne where shops closed at 4 or 5pm. We had dinner at Chinese restaurant. The rice bowl which looked tiny was more than enough to fill our stomach. I do not know what make me like the meal so much but the food was very tasty. We roamed around a bit and headed to home and slept. I was surprised to see my friends up the next morning when I got up. I grabbed my breakfast and we all went to Wild and Wet World, where it is full of water rides. I choose to stay behind as I felt it is not ethical to go into water with lots of clothes. It was again steamy and hot day. We then left the place to Movie World at around 230pm. Movie World was a place everyone wanted to go. We took few pictures before we all went into the Walt Disney’s shop. We got stuck there and missed the Disney character parade. However, manage to have glimpse at few characters. We also took a Soopy Doo ride which was surprisingly scared. We went home in the evening and had dinner outside again in Thai restaurant but did not enjoy their foods. The next day we went to Sea World where I enjoyed seal show and dolphin show and also sesame tree show. We headed to movie world again but got stuck in the bus stop because the next available bus was after 30 mins hence, we might miss ‘Hollywood Stunt Driver’. Then I thought hit me that if we take taxi we can reach on time. So we manage to hire taxi van from the other side of road and reached to Movie World on time. I love the show although it was very hot in there. I manage to see some fantastic stunts by various professionals. We all seemed enjoyed it coz no one stop talking about it. We then had our lunch at Gotham Cafe’ where you get a huge drink in Bet man stamped plastic glass. We also manage to see Scoopy Doo characters and afterwards the Disney character parade. Additionally I and another friend decided not take rides so we roamed a bit in the kid’s area and wild and west areas. We again went to have dinner outside but the place was about to close so we ordered take away. I went with another two friends to Hard Rock Cafe’ which was one of the most talked place among my friends from Indonesia. It was my first time to see this place. But my friends seems know this place and they did buy some stuff from there although the prices were not cheap. The next day we headed to the train station, thanks to Danny . We all got tickets which cost 19.50 AUD and everyone was giving 50 AUD and when my turn came I gave AUD 20 and the service lady gave me also a change I quickly said that I gave only 20 AUD. . It was my lucky day. Then we boarded to train but we did not get a good seat from a same place so we divided. I stayed behind but my friend did not want to leave me alone so she came and sat next to me. We had a good talk about family and country till we reached Brisbane. It did not seem very long journey. It was less than 2 hours I suppose. It was good my friends got friends over in Brisbane who took us around. But when I was waiting to board ferry transport, the wind blew away my ticket. I did not know what to do. I do not know the procedure so I was very uncomfortable although my friend’s friend helped me out to get ticket from ferry. I had to buy another ticket for second journey because I took off-peak one which expired when we get down. We manage to go to University of Queensland (QU) and took a few pictures as we were running out of time. But fortunately the friends in Brisbane provided transport and we manage to reach to airport before time. On the other hand, the flight got delayed for 30 minutes. We all freshen up at the airport and ate the rest of cookies left. We reached Melbourne at 9pm and reached home at 11pm. I was dead tired but manage to upload some pictures to the face book. I was also still in a shock of losing my ferry ticket and confused with my attempt to shake hands with my friends friend’s in Brisbane. I was not aware of their culture. But as far as I know if a person (lady) initiates to shake hands then there is no problem for the man to shake her hand. But to my surprise one of a guy was just holding his two hands tight when he said goodbye although, I took my hand to shake. I later realised that I put myself in embarrassing situation. His wife was also there and she was indeed wearing fully covered dress with a long veil. She also does not seem she likes me. Anyways, overall I find the trip very interesting although it was a sunny and bits of embarrassing and weird situations occurred. Moreover, I often find myself in a situation called ‘alien’. But it is a worth to escape to the Gold Coast in this summer.

A Day in the Woods

I always get excited before a trip. That is the reason I could not get enough sleep the night before the trip. I woke up at 5am as we planned to meet in the bus stop at 630 am and head to the city to catch the tour bus. In our group we had four of us who happen to meet randomly in the University. It was a good mini bus for such a long drive. We mostly talked about the units and classes till we stopped for morning tea in a small town between the Melbourne and the Grampians. It was small quite suburb. After the tea our journey began, and passengers in the bus broke the ice and started talking. It was hot and sunny day and cannot see outside very clearly. The bus went across the farm lands and bushes and had beautiful views. We also crossed the village called ‘Ararrat’ where gold miners from China settled long back. The driver also said that it was a village where the AFL rules were born. He also said that the Chinese dig the graves of their ancestors because they believe that they will be buried in the birth land. When we reached to the Grampians we stopped at the Brambuk Centre of Aboriginal heritage. We had a small presentation on the tools used by Aboriginals for hunting. We took few pictures and headed to the balconies. The balcony walk was around 2 km’s and it was fun to walk in the bushes but the heat affected all of us. From the balconies the view of various rock and stone patterns and valley and the Lake Wartook was visible. But to my surprise my camera battery went off because I did not charge my battery in the previous night. I know, things like this are always meant to happen to me. You must be wondering how clumsy I am. But my friend manages to take some pictures and shared with me. Then we headed to MacKenzie falls which was about 3 km down and accessible with stair case. However, there was also a wheel chair accessible balcony where you can see the view of the water fall. Me and a girl I met in the bus called Trina from Denmark walked down to the base of fall however, find it difficult to climb up. It was so tiring and had to take rest every now and then. This was the last sightseeing. We all had to have ice cream or water afterwards because of the heat. We had a little time to relax in the benches opposite to small ice-cream local shop. I think it was a peak day for the shopkeeper as many were buying ice creams to beat the heat. Then at around 4 we headed back to Melbourne. We stopped at the Ararrat to grab something to eat. I for the first time had a noodles from ‘noodles bank’ in a take away pack. Then it took another 2 and half hour ride to reach to the Melbourne city. We took train back home and it was 1000 pm when I reached home. I had a fantastic day but was very tired due to the heat and sad that I could not catch many views as my camera battery went off. But it is worth visiting Grampians if you love rock climbing and enjoy the sinister stones and rocks.

The First Anniversary in the Power: achievements and challenges

It passed a year in 11th November 2009 since the new government took over the power. Majority of Maldivians had high expectations when a 30-year old regime was finally brought to the end by a new government. Although some were not convinced of the presidential candidate, Maldivians wanted to see a change. However, now people are not sure if their choice was right. It is also noted that the new government came to power during a very critical global situation. The global financial crisis was at its peak and Maldives being a nation solely dependent on tourism and financial aids suffered incredibly. Moreover, the various reports published in daily news papers also evident that previous government was not very wise in handling financial matters. Additionally, Maldives also experienced the challenges in diplomatic relations due to its autocratic rule existed. Besides, politico-economic challenges there were numerous social problems such as drug addicts Islamist threats. The crime rates rose in the capital where it has overcrowded population and spread around other islands making the life of a normal Maldivian miserable. The whole population seems to experience kind of political epidemic which sometimes took a violent nature. Now, let us see the various achievements and challenges new government experienced in a year in the power.
- Economy
The government came to power during the global financial crisis and also had to deal with the mismanagement of finance by previous governments. Hence, people cannot expect a sudden success in economic area. The government main goal was to minimise the affect of the global financial crisis in Maldives. The government rushed to business reforms and privatisation process. The various foreign trips were undertaken to get foreign investments, the main targets being the India and the European Union. The President spoke about the various projects to be handled by the foreign companies in various parts of the Maldives. However, it is unfortunate that there is not much progress so far. As the global economy began recovering now, Maldives also started recovering but still the inflation and the inequality in the salary existed. Additionally as Maldives is import-oriented country, it also has a problems in foreign trade which caused a rise in inflation. It is also hard to say that government is very successful in controlling the inflation. Hence, in my opinion still it is early to criticise the economic scenario of Maldives. The government has a good plan for economic development but without outcome.
-Politics and foreign relations
The ruling government claimed that they are the first democratically elected government. However, since the election MDP led coalition did not enjoy a very peaceful relation. As a result, Qaumee Party already left the coalition and Adalath Party is on the edge of leaving the coalition. Since MDP took over the power there are lots of political conflicts between and among parties. This is indeed expected, as the criticism is a door to the success. However, I am not sure if Maldivian politics is taking a national interest or invested personal interest. Although the government claimed that they ruled for a year without any political prisoner, it is also very challenging to work with people who lack the compromises and corporation. It was also a challenge when MDP lost the majority of Majlis to the opposition. This is evident from the recently held unsuccessful no-confidence motion taken against Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed. There are controversies against this motion, where some believed that it was merely motivated by reasonable politics but rather it was more a personal grudge between Dr. Shaheed and Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Mr. Abdulla Shahid. Ibra, prominent personality in politics and ex-MP, said that this no-confidence motion was not valid and was put in the agenda of the Majlis unconstitutionally. Further he also said that it is a good time to take a no-confidence motion against the Speaker or the people’s Majlis. These quarrels between parties caused it hard to concentrate on the development of nation rather it halt the national development. May be the ruling party does not posses a very good communication and cooperate skills. On the other hand, Maldives also took a turn in its diplomatic relations where more priority is given to the West than East.
Social problems
Male’, capital of Maldives has been overcrowded with people who either migrated looking for better jobs or education or better life. However, they ended in a mess. I do not have to bring the social conditions of Male’ here. The migrated families bear the costs while owners of the land benefit. Migration took over an extreme turn that government unable to fully regulate it. The land owners in Male’ earned buckets of currency while the islanders loose everything they earned for rent. I fully support the decentralised administration however, not convinced if it is going to be implemented any soon. The decentralisation has been an ideal way to stop the rapid migration. If the new government could at least spread development in seven zones then I think there might be a solution to the migration hence, people will be willing to settle in their islands. Apart from this, the Islamic extremist also began spreading in Maldives. These people use religion as a tool for both as oppression and gather support for their cause. If government is not able to control this right now soon Maldives might become second Afghanistan or Pakistan.

Nevertheless, government is steadily progressing when considered all the challenges they are facing. However, the policies of government sometimes question its ability to rule a nation. When they said that the government would not spend on unnecessary posts, there were quite many political appointees and it still is going on. Policies such as rise in salary when there was a high inflation and high debt, and increased political appointees, unnecessary foreign visits, and so on brings doubts on their success in the power when they are celebrating a year. But I wish people start seeing changes happening in near future otherwise we do not want to see another mistake. The government should bring national interest for the betterment of the society than pleasing their buddies.

The beginning of Extremism in Maldives

Maldives, an island nation is surrounded by neighbours with a numerous ethnic and religious conflicts. Maldives is a purely Islamic nation but not Islamic state. However, Islam is considered as a state religion. A Maldivian has to be a Muslim according to the recently revised Constitution. Islam has played a huge part of day to day life of a Maldivian citizen. Years ago, it can be viewed that there was homogeneity in the religion where the faith and belief were intertwined to the traditions and customs of the Maldivian society. The reason for this may be because the society had fewer accesses to the outer world or government interfered in the religious affairs. However, things started changing when Maldives started experiencing the aspects of modernity and foreign influences. While a section of society accepted the western values and ideology, others opposed this and attached themselves with the religion. They also started using the traditions of Islam (also hadith and Qur’an) to oppose the views of so called foreigners. They sort of started finding evidences from traditions to strengthen their stands. However, Maldivians do not speak Arabic language and if I am not wrong there are less than 10% who can understand Arab language. Hence, the group of people who themselves termed as a ‘revivalist’ or ‘traditionalists’ interpreted the verses and hadith according to their motives. Most of them educated in neighbouring India, Pakistan, and Malaysia or in Middle East. One of my lecturers, Irfan Ahmad wrote in one of his articles that ‘the interpretation of Qur’an has a many limit and the meaning often influence ‘the condition and the biography of the person reading the text’. This happened in Maldivian society as well. When government started losing its power and power vested it in the so called civil societies, various groups calling for implementation of rights emerged. As consequences of this, people started interpreting the hadiths and radically these interpretations were purely human made. On the other hand, Maldivian society accepted these views blindly because some lack the knowledge or some are too lazy to do research or some can be easily brain washed due to their grievances. Eickelman (2000) argued that religion can retain its influence only by conforming to norms such as ‘rationality’ and ‘relativism’, accepting secularization and making compromises with science, economic concerns and the state. He also contended that the clash of civilisation within other religion is not between the West and homogeneous other but it is between the rival carriers of tradition within the same nations and civilisation.
My point is that it is not a time to blame each other neither time to expose ourselves, but it is time to find the social evils existing in our society and rehabilitate before it is too late. Otherwise we will be seeing more September 29 attacks, himandhu incidences and more radicalised brothers and sisters. Islam does not entertain conflicts neither called for Jihad against innocent civilians, however due to the actions of few lunatics the whole society is going to suffer. These people are not trying to implement 7th Century society but they are so radicalised that they are using religion as a weapon to achieve their selfish agenda. We will never want our society to be like our neighbouring societies where everyday thousands are killed in ethnic clashes. Surely we will not tolerate the religious violence in our society when there existed a common faith.

UnFolding Truth

Since September 11 attack, Muslim communities became the target of various reformations. The West viewed Islam as a religion in need of reformations because historical concepts in it contradict with the modern developments and resist to changes. On the other hand, some writers challenge these views and argue that it is rather modern phenomenon which causes resistances. Some believed that the seven century Muslim community was more transparent and democratic. Although the followers accepted the pronouncements of the Prophet mainly on day to day activities rather than political aspects, they maintained peace and association among religiously diverse tribal community. However, the existing revivalist and reformist movements emerged due to consequences of the colonisation in 17th -19th century. The unprecedented powers of the state caused the various movements calling for justice and independence. The collapse of bi-polar world following the end of the Cold War emerged independent states in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. These state once isolated due to its communist rules started reforming their political sphere with the help of liberals. The liberals aimed to bring democracy and secularisation to these states in the view of broader agenda of globalising due to the heterogeneity of society. The democracy, where the whole society is represented by government and secularisation where state is separated from religion. These two together create a diverse society where the faith and belief are privatised while creating a contradicting and overlapping incidences.
The democracy and secularisation calls for equal rights to all irrespective of the faith, gender, colour and so on. However, the dark side of globalisation have created a misrepresentation, maldistribution and misrecognition. The minorities find it difficult to accommodate to the changes due to misrepresentation and exercise less economic power and find status inequality. In some societies the minorities are not given equal citizenship status such as in France. Minorities had to abolish their cultural identity to be recognised. Although the constitution says that each and every person has a right to practice their rights, these reservations questioned how secular the state is? Further, also raised the question of how democratic the state is? When they call to separate religion from state, how many have recognised a certain religion as state religion? When they represent the sentiments of the Muslim women, did they ever ask what Muslim women want themselves? Leave us alone and you will find peace in yourself.

Couple of Collective Days in My Life

It was in week end. As usual I went to do some grocery shopping. After my grocery shopping I headed towards bus stand. It was then I hear someone called from behind. I did not respond and kept walking since the voice I heard was not so welcoming. She sounded very rude and not polite. When I did not look behind she used ‘f’ word at me. Later I realised that she was asking for money. I wondered how come they asked for money when their government pays them unemployment, social and allowances which totalled to around 600 USD per fortnight. A week after same incidence, I was waiting for traffic light when two healthy middle age guys asked for2 Dollar for food. They do not seem they are poor at all. A few days after again when myself and my friend were roaming around in a shopping mall, a lady in her 50s came and asked for 2 Dollar for coffee. She should have seen thousand people around but she came over to us. She was well dressed with makeup on and looked very decent. After a series of these incidences, I thought hit me. When these people are getting enough money to survive, why do they beg for money in a professional way? Is it because they are brought that way? Or else they find us richer than them? or when they sees a person with scarf and think that they are suppose to be generous because their religion says to help a person in need? If they think in that way they misunderstood simple Islamic concept. I wonder when these people stop alienating people because they are from different culture.

For You

I still feel it was yesterday that
You came to my life when I was lost
You jingled my world with your caring
You brought my life enormous happiness and love
You have always been an inspiration and a great support
Although not lucky to be around, we are always so close in our arms
The distances never kept us apart but keep us going
Darling, you have been missed here with me
My Darling I love you so much....

Joana, the youngest of the five children to a Turk mother and Arab father from Iraq was born in Baqdad during the war between Kurd freedom fighters and Iraq forces. At the young age her father, Al- Askari lost his hearing and was not able to speak. Joana grew up in Bagdad with her siblings while visits her mother’s Kurdish family residing in Sulaimaniya. Her siblings suffered various insults as they were half Sunnis and half Shia. Her brothers were beaten and were many times a target of injustice. She completed university in agricultural engineering .Her brother in law and brother was beaten by the Iraqi secret service agents and spent imprisonment of months in Abu-Ghuraib Jail, which was famous for cruel torture. Her brother Raad, who was mistreated and lost his business during the regime left Iraq for good and settled in Switzerland. Joana who was also interrogated by Secret service agents when she was working in a tourist travel agency escaped her secound interrogation when she left to Sulaimaniya to get married to Sarbast, to whom she fell in love with she was just fifteen. But Sarbast was not interested in her until he was dumped by another female to whom he asked to marry. Sarbast wrote to Joana declaring his love for her when he was fighting against Sadam’s forces in the Kurds mountains. The letters were reached to Joana by hands to avoid Sadam’s spy. He wrote to Joana in that difficult situation till Joana agreed to marry him. Sarbast who is peshmerga, a freedom fighter, a warrior, Joana always wanted to spend rest of her life.
Her childhood experiences also caused Joana promising herself that she will someday join Peshmerga and fight for freedom of her land. Her dream came true when she got married to a freedom fighter and had to live in the mountain areas of Kurds. However, she was not safe. She experienced two chemical e attacks while she was in the mountain range and lost her unborn child. Her eyes were affected by the chemical and her husband, Sarbast took her to Iran for medical attention. In Iran they have been hostile due to the ongoing war between Iraq and Iran. She was not given proper medical attention in her labour because she was an Arab from Baqdad. However, finally with the help of her elder brother, Raad, Joana, Sarbast and their son managed to fly to London and got refugee status. Now the family live in London and Joana worked for British Airways while her husband is an engineer. She has two sons and her mother is living with her in London. This novel tells a struggle of a women, Joana’s mother, her sisters and finally herself. It also highlighted the problems in gulf and the cruel attacks of Sadam regime. The divide between Sunni and Shia and the stories of various corrupted officials in government. It is a very beautiful novel which is worth reading.

''If man can walk on the moon, we can unite to defeat our common carbon enemy'' -President Nasheed-

Today when I was goggling I accidently opened an article written by one of prominent writer, Nicolas Schmidle to The New York Times magazine on 8 May 2008 headlined as ‘ Wanted: A New Home for My Country’. The article began with the British documentary named ‘The Age of Stupid’, which talks about environmental catastrophe faced by the globe and the interview with the President. The documentary depicted that people are living in the age of stupidity and featured Mr. President Nasheed. The article said that Mr. Nasheed mentioned in November last year that the possible destinations for finding home for his 300000 people are Sri Lanka, India and Australia. The plan for buying land in these states seems to be establishing ‘sovereign wealth fund’ from the present revenues from tourism. The President’s quote saying in November that “We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own, and so we have to buy land elsewhere,’’. When documentary ended he announced that Maldives will become the first carbon neutral country in the world.

Paul Kench, a coastal geomorphologist at the University of Auckland, who made eight expeditions to the Maldives to research how islands form and evolve noted saying that Maldives will not survive in the recent sea level rise. He also said that President Nasheed’s announcements and comments were a political weapon. He said that it is a little bit unfortunate because Maldivians do not know how to deal with the change. In contrast the oppositions also said that Mr. Nasheed’s announcement may harm the tourism sector. The time he announced media that Maldives is going to sink, the international tour operators immediately started calling to inquire about it, which foresee a threat to tourism.

When the author asked about the details of the plan of the carbon neutral project Mr. President did not give any details and he replied saying that ‘I believe that the changes is on the horizon’

The author has described his journey with president and the interview in quite detail. These are few paragraphs wich caught my attention.

If there was any tension between science and Maldivians’ conservative religious values, Nasheed said he hoped to dampen it before the Italians arrived. “For your average fisherman, who feels very insignificant in front of God, they are finding it difficult to understand the connection between climate change and human activity,” he told me. “When people say changes in weather patterns are because of nature and not because of man, you re¬ally have to connect that: if humans can become carbon-neutral, then God could act in a different set of ways. But God has to be there in the conversation somewhere.”( From Article by Nicolas, 2009)

After a few minutes describing his government’s plans to improve life in Magoodhoo, Nasheed informed residents that the team of Italian re¬searchers was on its way to study the coral. “The safety of these islands depends on the coral,” he said. “We need to learn more about what’s happening with the earth. The world might not be that safe. We might not survive. We don’t know exactly what will happen. So we have to understand nature. It is God’s will.” Nasheed pushed his hair off his forehead and looked out across the crowd. “If these scientists are not able to save the Maldives,” he said, “then they won’t be able to save the world. ( from the Article from Nicolas, 2009)

All by Myself

I just love to listen to this song when it is raining heavily. It gives me goose bumps. Love the tone and the feelings. I guess one of the best songs I have ever known. I love the 1975 version of the song sung by Eric Carman. Just love and cannot resist to listen over and over again. Here it goes.

When I was young,
I never needed anyone.
Makin' love was just for fun.
Those days are gone.

Livin' alone,
I think of all the friends I've known.
But when I dial the telephone,
Nobody's home.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

Hard to be sure,
Some times I feel so insecure.
And love so distant and obscure,
Remains the cure.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

When I was young,
I never needed anyone.
And makin' love was just for fun.
Those days are gone.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.

All by myself,
Don't wanna be, all by myself anymore.
All by myself,
[Fade.]
Don't wanna live, all by myself anymore.
All by myself...

What really went wrong ?

I met her during the annual holidays in 1999. She is one of my cousins who live in the other end of Maldives. Her dad migrated years ago due to family conflict I suppose. She was nice, friendly but reserved person at first. I roamed with her often to the phone booth but did not know who she was calling until one day she told me that he was her boy friend. He seems the only person who cherishes her when she was depressed due to her dad’s second marriage. Since she left my island, we do not regularly keep in contact, but she invited me over to her island in 2003. It was during Eid. We met after long and had lot to talk about and I was enjoying some new varieties of foods they introduced me too. I still remember ‘Kopeefai masuni’ which I loved so much and could not stop talking about it. She was still in a relationship with her long term boy friend. It was not shock for me as I knew how much he loved her. But things started changing when they got married in 2005. My cousin sensed that he was having an affair. She was pregnant that time and when she found out he promised her that he will stop seeing that lady. But later she again discovered that he was still continuing his affair. When she told me that I suggested her that she should get divorce before its late but she hesitates saying that her parents would not like it. She is a mother of two now and still with the cheating husband. She told me that, they have not talked properly since she discovered his little secret, but they are married. She is frustrated and depressed but did not want to get divorce. She thinks that he might get married again. She is suffering inside but does not want to be rescued from the cottage since it may affect her family status. She is hurting herself and her two kids, but does she have other option?
It seems that the relationships are broken due to various reasons, which are 1) unchecked emotional baggage 2) dishonesty and deception 3) Emotional clip wrap 4) Fairy tale fantasies. I do not know where the tale of my cousin fits here.
It is true when some of the writers say that [ in early days it is tempting to see the world through rose coloured glass but to make the partnership last take them off and be alert to warnings of trouble]. My cousin could have been little cautious when she married to him.

Rastafarians in Maldives

Some argued that the dependency in our societies is caused mainly due to the import based economy. From the basic needs to the entertainment we have been depending on other countries. The songs, movies even the way we dress shows aspects of the other cultures. These days I do not see a Maldivian unique culture and it is hard to explain a foreigner where we are located without telling them about India and Sri Lanka. It is true that there is no country free from the influence of their neighbouring cultures but unlike other nations, we have finally achieved the importation of cultural aspects from the other end, African countries. The recent of which is Rastafarian. The young teenagers of Maldives have idolised the way of Rastafarians. It began with the music of Bob Merely. The music then leads to the use their life style and recently caught the attention due to the speech given by current president where he talked about ‘Ganga’.
The Rastafarian or Rastafarianism is a new religious movement emerged in 20th Century in Jamaica, where the people accept that spirit of Jesus had been incarnated in Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie is seen as a Messiah among the believers. The other characteristic includes the use of cannabis, rejection of western society, and afro social life style like dreadlocks, and political aspirations. The Rastafarian claims that when they use drugs such as Cannabis, they are able to pray more close to the god.
Hence, I want to believe that the Rastafarians in Maldives are simply the supporters of the Bob Merely’s music, if so then they should stop calling themselves Rastafarians to avoid symbolising them as followers. Otherwise if they are more involved than just music, the days of violence are not so far. The history of new religious movements has not been very successful other than few of them like scientology. Maldives should give a thought to these fan groups when it is in its beginning stages. As a Maldivian I am worried about the ignorance of our society.

Cogours

I could not stop wondering why some people thinks that it is unethical when older women start dating younger men and finally brand them as cogours while the whole world accepts the relationship between older men and younger women. Some believes that this is more fashion trend which is among celebrities. But in reality, some part of the world it is a cultural belief or newly motivated rather influenced thinking. The older women get involve with young men mainly due to older men dating younger women. Unable to find the partners of same age (batch mates) persuaded the singles to opt for alternative solution. The bunch of single people left in society started dating no matter what the age is. Some, against all odds, starts relationships but due to the pressure from society their relationship end up in disasters. Having said this, there are couple of people who have a healthy relationship with the huge age differences. I saw an interview of a couple who has been dating for 6 years. The woman who is aged 56 and the guy who is just 26. They met each other through internet and are happy. The woman has a child elder than her boyfriend and she is even older than her boy friend’s mother. But this did not affect their relationship.
The divorced middle aged women were inspired by few brave women and learned to move on instead of sobbing over their ruined married life. In some part of the world, the part of the society are using various approaches of match making, like Monday night parties where you can interact with single people. This is to encourage the divorced middle age people to overcome their stress and find a new life.
I personally think that everyone deserves to be loved exclusively. If they are happy together then their relationships should be accepted by society at large. In our small society recently, we also started experiencing it, but unlike other societies, the age still matters. The sad thing is that the people take it for granted. People tend to misuse it. That is the reason why large part of our society still opposes these kinds of relationships. Divorced people are reluctant to move on due to the pressure from the people around them. But everyone deserves to be happy and loved. Societies should stop pointing out this part of society as black sheep when they are trying to reach for their happiness.

mY lIL nEpHeW

It was early in the morning of 16 April 2009, when i received a call from home. I was half sleep when one of my sisters broke the news that our sister gave birth to a cute little baby boy. I was surprised as there is still a week left for her due date. First I thought they were fooling me. I was in dilema. But I could not stop smiling that day. The feeling of being a Aunt for the first time was amazing. My nephew is such a cute lovely baby. I wish I am at home now. Its really bad that when i see him he will be one year old. He may not even have any idea that he has got a one lost cute Aunt. I wish he will recognise me when i see him after one year when he is one year and something.
I just cant wait to go home and make him cry.

Relief vs Grief

Feels relaxed but worries
Finally saw glimpse of success
Finally compiled one hard works
A lesson from laziness
struggle of clumsiness
unhappiness to be student again

Going through loads of Readings
skiming and skipping notes
cursing my lectures
eagerly waiting to close the books
Struggling to be student again

Oh no another 6000 words to go
I am screwed :(

STORY OF JESUS IN OTHER FAITHS

Attention Readers: This is just summary review of a documentary I watched and do not include any of my idea. I thought I should share this with you.


A British Theologist, Robert Beckford travelled around the world to investigate the ‘Story of Jesus in other Faiths’. He gave a briefed on Christian faith. He said that Christians believe Jesus is a son of god and was crucified and resurrected. He did not separately investigate the belief of orthodox, catholic and Protestants.
He then travelled to Israel which is Major Jew’s state. He found out that Jews deny Jesus as messiah and son of god. According to Jews faith Jesus was born due to an illegitimate act of Mary (Mother of Jesus). Jew opposes the beliefs of Christians. They compare Christians as Nazis which reminds them of Holocaust in World War II. Documentary also showed a group of young people who was campaigning for ‘Jesus for Jews’, who said that they are Jews but believes Jesus is a Jew and was born in Israel. But people who believe in Jesus in Israel cannot live peacefully due to the public oppression. A couple who faced various threats due to their faith was showed as evidence. In an interview, they talked about the threats they received like ‘to kill them like Jews crucified Jesus a century’s ago’ and they also mentioned that every night people gathered in front of their house but did not get much help from police to stop this cruel acts.
Then, he travelled to Kashmir, Srinagar where he met controversial Sufi professor Husain who argued that Jesus escaped the crucified attempt and migrated to Kashmir. In Kashimir Jesus was known as Yosuf. Professor Husain showed some of the documents from 2nd Century as an evidence, which seemed more like as novelist writings. He also claimed that Jesus was buried in Kashmir which is now a holy place for Muslims. Mr. Robert managed to visit the Tomb but was escorted by another person as government prohibits Professor Husain entering into this Holy place due to his controversial stories. The person who escorted Mr. Robert told that the Tomb is not of Jesus but a Tomb of another prophet.
In search of more stories, he then travelled to Palestine, Egypt, India and Europe. He met with Rector of Azhar University of Egypt which is the largest Muslim University in the world. The Rector answered his question in Arabic which was translated to English. According to Rector, Jesus was not crucified but taken by Allah and will save the world from Anti Christ and rule world for 40 years before judgement day. In his interview he did not give reference to any holy book, however mentioned about the cruelty of westerners towards Muslim world giving Iraq and Afghanistan as an example. To add more evidence Mr. Robert questioned a Sheikh from Palestine, who answered with reference to Quran and gave more evidence comparing the believes with books of people (Christians and Jews) but again here the language was a barrier. But Sheikh said that Jesus ( Issa Alaihi Salaam –PBUH) is not son of God in fact is a messiah (prophet) of Allah from Israeel ethnicity who was send to spread Islam, but people of Israel opposed him and group of people went against him. He also mentioned that Jesus (Issa alaihi salaam) was not crucified instead the leader of the group was crucified and Jesus will be send to Earth before the judgement day. When Mr. Robert asked when is judgement day, the Sheikh replied saying ‘no one knows only god knows’. Mr. Robert however, said that he finds similarities between the signs of judgement day (dooms day) mentioned in the Bible and Muslim beliefs.
He also managed to research ancient findings on Jesus and studied the documents found in 1945. He said that the documents do not mention birth, death and resurrection of Jesus but gave insight ideas of the teaching of Jesus. He questioned the librarian if these documents will be a threat to the traditional belief of Christian and she strongly agreed. He then compared with the Ghandi philosophy of non violence with Jesus teaching and other non violence movements. It felt to me that Mr. Robert wanted to tell it is not the story or the traditional beliefs which matters but the teachings.

My Wonderful PaReNtS

Every Friday I take my fishing line and bucket of rotten food along with me,
Giving excuse that i am going to throw rubbish bin,
My dad catches me on hot sun near the beach sitting on coral eyeing carefully towards the sea,
All I caught was ten eels which I threw back to the sea,
My friends cheered me up though I had mixed feelings.
I still remember the day I caught my first fish,
I laughed, shouted in excitement,
I did not want to kill the fish, I freed it.
I was the funny kid; no one took me seriously,
I pretended that I do not want to be a beautiful girl,
I do not like to wear beautiful dresses, and be like a beautiful princess.
I played with my neighbours from morning till dusk.
I studied because I had to,
I screened the whole book with no aim of storing if for future,
I never thought of future,
I never dream of leaving my family,
I always sketched my family with me everywhere every day,
The day I got my first international exam results, my parents were so happy.
They let me go from their own sight, to build my future,
They let me make my own decisions,
They let me grow like a lady,
They let me decide my future,
In turn they never asked me for anything.

Politician's Mistress

I was in a shock to discover that Hitler had a mistress whom he married later and died together. He was a man committed to his party and politics and war. It was a very unusual for a man like him to get involve with lady when there is a chance that it may affect his political career.
Hitler met Eva Braun’s when she was seventeen. She was pretty, educated young catholic girl who did not have any interest in politics. At that time she was working as an assistant to the Nazi party’s photographer. She escorted him to all most all his tours but her presence was kept secret .Their affair was a secret till 1940s. After 11 years of secret affair, Hitler finally decided to acknowledge their relationship to his associates. They were seen together in small private dinner parties. She was interested in movies and photography. She captured a rare moments of Hitler’s secret life with the camera Hitler gave on her 24th B’day.
She was a women devoted to her man. She wrote to Hitler revealing her love for him soon after failed assassination attempt of 1944. It was also a shock to discover that her dad died in an earlier attempt to assassinate Hitler on 1939.
Adolph and Eva were married on April 20, 1945. The next day she followed him into death, swallowing a poison capsule about two minutes before Hitler shot himself.
There are thousands cases that politicians get involve with ladies and kept secret even after their deaths. One of the recent case was a week ago a Mexican lady of age 90 came up with the story of her affair with American president Kennedy and claimed that they have a son together.
I still wonder why politicians like escorts and cannot be faithful to their wives/husbands. One reason can be concluded from the cases that the politicians want to take a complete break from their political nonsense where they can just lead a normal life and re-fresh their mind or else it is a way of showing their pride. In my opinion these are all baseless excuses. Whatever is the reason I am not a fan of their dirty behaviours ruining other people life. If they cannot be honest with their own family, how can they rule a Nation of millions of people? Majority of the politicians are just spoiled selfish money minded people who are always looking for excitement and manipulate young charming, handsome people with money.

Can it be that Easy?

There was a time when a proud Maldivian can say that Maldives is the most peaceful place on the earth. The tourists preferred Maldives not only because of the white sandy crystal beaches but also the peaceful environment. However if we looked at the recent scenario of Maldives, we cannot agree more that Maldives no longer is heaven on the earth. Crimes are increasing at a high speed that the security forces are unable to trace the criminals due to various reasons. Some claim that the police were not given enough power or due to the nature of the nation it is difficult to find the criminals or lack of efficient law enforcement agencies and also lack of high qualified personnel and equipments.
Maldives never was a place free from violence. There was always a time where there is a group who are disappointed about government, who wanted power, who were deprived of socio-economic needs. These people had a political agenda. Since beginning of 1990s, a new form of criminal activity was born in the Maldivian society which is the use and trade of illegal narcotic substances. People not only use it but also were a means of survival. Though Maldivians did not use high merchandise method, the trade of these narcotics spread all over the Maldives within another five years’ time. The security forces could not do much to stop when it was in its early stage. There came a time when the government only talked about the issue globally like environmental issues. That was when United Nations Office on Drug and Crime mentioned the worst scenario of Maldives drug addicts in their annual report. High percentage of Maldivian youths between the ages 25-35 were addicts and majority of them did not have a permanent job. Still then Maldivian government could not do much to stop it. The drug addicts are either jailed for sometimes and release afterwards or else as they are children they were handed over to their parental care because they cannot be charged. Even with the change in government, the government have not succeeded in addressing to this major issue.
When drug offences were raising that was when the clusters were formed with good intention. It is obvious that people with same wants and thoughts easily get along. The heroine and cigarettes replaced the knives, hockey bats, chains, iron rod and even handmade swords. According to Maldivian constitution civilian cannot hold a gun but anyone with good intention can form a cooperation, clubs, and group. I was unable to find the exact definition and tools which are considered as weapons in Maldives.
The transitions in the groups happened when the Maldives were going through a transition politically. Can we say that these groups were victims of politicians who wanted to achieve their agenda? May be it is true. If we looked at the history of the violence, majority of violence took place to achieve political objective. Majority of radical groups were formed for the purpose of political achievement. These radical groups were radicalised due to the abandonment of their founder members when they needed rehabilitation. I wish I am wrong here. But I cannot stop applying this to recent events happening in Maldives.
Maldivian government cannot achieve any of its objectives if they do not eradicate these epidemics and build healthier society. The violence gives negative impact on the economy. At this world economic crisis Maldives will be affected highly due to its interdependent and lack of much domestic security to use to reduce the effect after all Maldives is not Unites States or did not even try to achieve economic sustainability when they had their chance. It is not easy to deal with a global crisis trying so hard to get foreign investment while domestically you have issues to handle Mr. President.

with or without you - U2-

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And Im waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, shes got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you

With or without you
With or without you
I cant live
With or without you
With or without you