A Sad Tale of Law

Have you ever wondered why it is that Islamic law is not implemented fully in anywhere in the world? Even in Saudi Arabia where they claim that Islamic law is followed word to word, you find such clear deviations from Islamic principles that Islamic law in itself has become a laughing stock. For all those who actually do laugh at the implementation of Islamic law, I won't pass judgment on you; you are excused.

People say, how barbaric is Islam? How can a law, any law, sentence a person to be stoned to death just for having sex with someone other than his/her spouse? How can premarital sex be punished with 100 lashes from a whip? People don't know that for a person to be whipped or stoned, there has to be FOUR just and honest witnesses who saw the sexual act with their own eyes. No circumstantial evidence is accepted. If there were four witnesses who would bear witness to having seen an act of illicit sex, and one of them were to back out, the three people who claimed to have seen an illegal sexual act would be convicted for the crime of fabrication.

Funny, punishing a rape victim in Saudi sure doesn't seem to be in line with that!! Nor does abandoning God's law for man-made laws whereby fornication is applauded, or given a blind eye at best.

When young girls are given as child brides in parts of the Arab world, people of closed minds and unthinkable short vision love to mention that Aisha, wife of the Prophet (pbuh), (and may Allah be pleased with her) was only 7 or 9 when her hand was given to the Prophet in marriage. What they don't consider is the fact that where the Prophet's marriage to Aisha made her a source of Islamic law and Prophetic tradition, marrying of young girls to old tribal chiefs kill any dreams they have of a good education and a prosperous career. And, seriously, when did we start putting chieftains in the same category as the blessed Prophet (peace be upon him)??

With all due respect, any Muslim scholar who believes that women don't have the right to vote needs to go back to Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. Okay, so no woman voted the Prophet (pbuh) as leader of the Islamic state in Madinah. No one voted. As believers in the Prophet all the companions were unanimous in their decision to follow every order he made. But the Prophet himself consulted his wives at different stages of Islamic statehood. His caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them) had women in their company when they discussed policy. Now conisder the irony when Muslims read the Qur'an and look through compilations of Hadith and decide women can't vote!!

Before Muslims go out on the streets raging that someone said that Islamic law cannot be implemented in this age and time, they should look at themselves. Islamic law is under-developed. God gave us a law. He gave us the Holy Qur'an. He sent us the Prophet (peace be upon him) and ordered us to follow his traditions. But God gave us minds too. But Muslims, for the most part seem to have forgotten this God-given mind of ours.

History is written by the victor - Winston Churchill

In this case victors are those who write history.

How many times have you heard on the media statements like, 'You can't change the history', 'History bears witness to such and such'? I bet you heard it a lot, and I bet that lately, you heard it being said a lot by Arabs.

Well, to all of those who are silly enough to keep on dreaming that 'History will bear witness to our rights or suffering or that we were not murderers but victims', it's time to wake up. History is written by the victors. And in this day and age of mass media, victory is all about being able and daring to write history the way you like. A history that will highlight that you have rights. That you have suffered. That you are not the murderers but the victims.

History is not about what actually happened. It's about what and how much people remember from what happened. So if you want to write history, you have to make sure that people remember the happenings the way you like them to remember. Unfortunately, in many of the struggles by the weak and the wretched, the question of survival overpowers the question of history. In the end, many a people's stories are lost to the tales of the past.

Yes, you're right about what I'm getting at with all this talk. The Palestinian struggle is long past the stage where it has become a struggle for a place in History. Zionists have managed to legitimize their state on lands that belong to the Palestinians. If the Palestinians want to legitimize their claim on their homeland now, the land of their fathers and forefathers, they have to more than fight the aggressors.

People seem to be forgetting about how this struggle started. Many people think that the Israelis were living peacefully in their own homes when the Palestinians came out of no where and started rocketing them. Israel has managed to highlight the small amount of deaths and casualties they've had on their side (compared to the deaths and wounds suffered by the Palestinians) so much that the hundreds of thousands of Muslim and Arab deaths at the hands of Zionists starting from long before the establishment of the state of Israel seem to get diminished. People today don't know about the Palestinian people who were murdered raped and intimidated out of their homes when Zionists established a state for themselves in their land. Truth be told few people know the true extent of the atrocities carried out by the Zionists against the people of Palestine.

I've heard many people wonder, 'Why won't Hamas just stop fighting? Why don't they just accept the existence of Israel especially since they've gained legitimacy through United Nations?' And I wonder how many of those people know that the Palestinian refugees come from not only towns and villages within the Gaza Strip and whatever is left of the West Bank after the illegal Israeli settlements. Where do they expect those people to return. I also wonder how many of those people have known about Mr. Khalid Mish'al's interviews with different newscasters since 2006, I believe, in which he has said that a the Hamas movement could accept a peace deal under which a Palestinian state will be established within 1967 borders. Have they heard about the same offer being made by Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zafar. I wonder if they know that Hamas adhered to the last truce despite being put under an economic blockade until Israel broke that truce in early November.

The truth is, they don't know. And most people don't have the time to try to find out. If you are struggling for a cause, and if you want to establish your rights, and if you want public support, it's not enough to simply fight with weaponry for that cause. People are busy. And people want the information to be at their doorstep when the collect the newspaper every morning. People want the information to be a click away when they decide to watch the news.

The truth is, Zionists do that. They provide whatever fabrications they want people to believe at people's doorsteps. On their TVs. On their PCs when they browse the internet. While writing this blog, I wanted to know the number of Palestinians killed before 1967 and I typed in 'palestine; massacres; before 1967' in the Google search engine. The first site on the list reads 'List of attacks against Israeli civilian before 1967'. They provide their stories and people accept them.

Unfortunately, from the other side of the conflict, the PR is not so great. The current PR strategy seems to be the Palestinian internal conflicts. Believe me, it's not helping the Palestinian image. Many people are just sick and tired of it. So first things first: Someone has to broker a Palestinian unity plan. And in the mean time, someone has to write history. Educate people about the Palestinian suffering. Raise awareness. And that's not the duty of Palestinians alone. Every single person among us who claim to sympathize with the Palestinian cause, it's the least we can do!

History is written by the victor. And in this race for people's minds and hearts, victory is defined by who dares to write history.

Dance Parties, Tsunamis, and Bordering on Atheism

This has been my first time to read former Information Minister Mr. Mohamed Nasheed's blog. Even now as I type these words, I ask myself why I am bothering to comment on the blog; maybe it's because it relates to the status of the religion of Islam in the Maldives more than it relates to politics, or maybe it mentions Mr. Mohamed Nasheed's educational credentials as a graduate of the International Islamic University Malaysia, the same university I myself am studying in.

It seems to me that Mr. Nasheed has been angered into an outburst of “conversation” by the decision made by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to ban “dance parties” that were planned to be held in Male’ on New Year's Eve. It seems that Mr. Nasheed is of the opinion that such parties should be allowed and that the decision by the Ministry to ban them is one that will breed further extremist thought among Maldivians.

Mr. Nasheed’s idea that DJ’s that are planned to be a place for young people to hook up is part of Maldivian tradition is absurd. What’s more absurd though is his idea that there is a more modern ‘version’ of Islam that would allow such behaviour.

In his frustration at the Ministry’s decision, Mr. Nasheed has moved on to question the Islamic Affairs Minister’s comments regarding the 2004 tsunami. Apparently, the Minister’s comments that the tsunami was Allah’s Punishment and Wrath didn’t make sense at all to the former Information Minister.

We all know the science behind a tsunami: an underwater earthquake or landslide causes a sudden large movement in the water, creating a fast moving wave that slows and gains height in shallow water.

What we all also know about the 2004 earthquake and tsunami though, is the fact that the earthquake which took place on December 26th, 2004 was greater than anyone could have expected: The location where the epicenter of the earthquake was was a completely different location from what scientists had anticipated. Scientists had identified the southern part of the fault-line near Sumatra as being at risk of an earthquake. The rupture had occurred further north. In addition to that, a weakness in the Earth's crust near that area created a shortcut allowing energy to the surface.

The 2004 Tsunami was in fact a series of tsunamis: one caused by the displacement of the seabed when energy escaped to the surface through 'cracks' in the Earth's crust, another caused by the movement of the tectonic plates themselves.

The question is why did the rupture occur further north than could have been anticipated? Why were there weaknesses in the crust in that particular region? Why was even the rupture far greater than expected? Why do ruptures occur in the first place? Why are there plates in the Earth’s crust? Chance? Science? No. We Muslims are supposed to believe it's Allah's Will.

We as Muslims are supposed to believe that there is a force above science, and above nature; a more powerful force. That's what belief in Allah is. We don't believe in Allah the way ancient people used to believe in their numerous gods; that they created the Earth and that was it. That they didn't have anything to do with what was going on.

Natural disasters are Allah's Wrath, as well as His Mercy. His Wrath for those who indulged in wrongdoing until their very last moment. His Mercy for those god-fearing people who were nonetheless affected by the disaster. His Mercy because Allah has promised them reward. "Such is the Promise of Allah. Never Doth Allah fail in His Promise." (Surah Al-Zumar: 20)

What really shocks me as I write all this is that the person who finds the idea of a natural disaster being Allah’s Wrath as absurd is a graduate of International Islamic University Malaysia. I have studied in this great university for 3 years now. And never have I heard anyone here, neither lecturer nor student question this concept before. And according to what I learned here, believing in Allah’s Will is the six pillar of Iman (faith).

In any case, I believed it was my duty to deliver the message of knowledge, in case you didn’t know. And if you did, please accept my humble reminder!