Hate-mongering in Maldivian mosques

"Never! Not today! Not even on Judgment day! Never will the treacherous Jews or Christians have any goodwill towards you; having relations with them can never benefit a single Muslim!"

This piece of anti-semitic trash was playing from the loud speakers of the Islamic Center in Malé - the country's largest mosque - while I was passing by it recently after work.

It was one of those daily 'religious sermons' organized for Ramadan - unless I'm mistaken and it was simply an innocent gathering trying to translate a Bin Laden tape for some reason.

The mullah's message for the holy month seems to be the same as always.

"Gee, what do we do this Ramadan, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every month, Pinky. Spread anti-Semitism and.. 

TRY AND TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"

Just this month, HaveeruOnline reported that former Adhaalath party president "Sheikh" Hussain Rasheed had allegedly instructed local Mullahs to avoid mentioning 'Jews', 'Israel' or 'Politics' for the period of Ramadan.

Of course, this is the equivalent of asking Pacman to avoid eating dots for a month - and the mullahs predictably reacted with unhinged fury.

According to one unnamed "scholar" in the report, “Muslims are warned by Allah to be cautious of Jews, and so scholars reject the lowly advice given by Sheikh Hussain".

Another bearded idiot expressed contempt at being asked to use the generic term "non-muslims" in his hate-speeches, instead of directly referring to Jews.

Sheikh Hussain himself seemed scandalized that he was caught doing something totally reasonable for once, and immediately disowned all his alleged statements, calling them "outrageous lies". 

You see, I would never, ever, come in the way of an admirable cause like Jew bashing. 

                                                                                                         [Image credit: Miadhu]

Okay. So let me step back for a moment here and ask politely: What the flipping hell is wrong with the Maldivian government?! 

It appears that government mosques - under direct supervision of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs - are carrying out the Adhaalath/Salaf's job of brainwashing foot-soldiers looking for one-way tickets to Virgin-land.

The mullahs laughably continue to deny any such attempt to radicalize society, or that their modus operandi has anything to do with the global Islamist handbook of preaching violence and anti-semitism.

They parade their intolerant ideology as 'the only true Islam'. Except, they're still bullshitting you.

I didn't exactly sport a prayer mark on my forehead back in India either, but my Imam there had a thing or two to teach our mullahs about basic human decency.

I once again quote an excerpt from the Imam's public Eid message, from an article I wrote 2 years ago. [Note: he's no two bit "sheikh" with a diploma. This guy's one of the senior-most Islamic clerics in the region]

Also, his beard eats other beards for lunch   

                                                                                                    [Image Credit: The Hindu]

"An ambassador of democratic secularism, the Imam described how the Masjid and thousands of the faithful who frequent it for offering namaz live in perfect harmony with the Hindu and Christian places of worship in the neighbourhood.

“We are not tolerating them but accommodating them. The four churches in the vicinity and the Ganapathy temple near the mosque are emitting positive energy and we coexist in perfect harmony.

“Islam teaches to accommodate all religions and is against denouncing other forms of worship. If you deplore others, it will be reciprocated and hence we are keen on promoting unity in diversity,”

When the famous feminist writer Kamala Das died after her conversion to Islam, this Imam led her non-Muslim children in funeral prayers. 

It would come as something of a shock to our mullahs that the writer's Hindu sons and daughters willingly participated in the Islamic rites.

Such is the concept of tolerance and showing respect to earn respect, an idea which is completely lost on our bigoted mullahs.

The Maldivian government should stop playing deaf and dumb - and immediately bring a halt to this shameless hate-mongering going on within public mosques. 

If the mullahs want to spread their party propaganda, they should do so within their party offices and party meetings, or - if it absolutely has to be on State property - while sharing a federal prison cell. 

If the government continues to allow public mosques to operate as salafist breeding grounds, they should at least publicly acknowledge their role in promoting this terrorist ideology.

I've read somewhere that mosques once used to be places of spiritual fulfillment, learning and enlightenment.

Unfortunately, I do not derive any such spiritual comfort from visiting local mosques anymore. On the contrary, it depresses me to see the relentless brainwashing and all that wasted potential - to hear all the misogynist rants and anti-Semitic bullshit.

It may bring someone else spiritual contentment to hear bigoted, hateful diatribes from fanatics and political zealots - but as far as I'm concerned, it is a barrage of insults directed towards my Christian, Buddhist and other non-Muslim friends - all of whom are excellent human beings the kind these moron mullahs could never hope to be - and therefore, I will not put up with it.

Some people ask me why I do not often go to pray. Well, there's your answer.

~Peace!