Sunday, May 07, 2006

no water no water

No water in my apartment

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

The way Maldivian Ladies dress - shame !!

With the blessings of Allah, Maldives is a one hundred percent Muslim country. We do not have racial, religious and other similar differences or conflicts. We call every one of us a Muslim. Isn�t this a blessing we need to be grateful for? However, I see a lot of contradictions to this. Many Maldivians who want to see us dressed more modestly, and many visitors ask "why don�t Maldivian girls dress modestly according to their faith?" We are indeed a 100% Muslim country, but why is the first or second person (woman) we see in the street contradicting this fact by the way she dress? It is ironic that our men are generally dressed more modestly, with more of their bodies covered than many of our women who wear tight and scanty clothes. Is it because we do not have the necessary awareness or is it because we don�t really think that what Islam teaches about women�s dress code is wrong? Or is it because some of us think that showing our belly buttons and wearing mini skirt is more important for our development and culture and modesty?

It�s not constructive to blame anyone else for these acts by many of our women. It doesn�t serve any purpose to pint our fingers at television or anyone else. Everyone is accountable to his or her own actions and behaviour. We cannot simply say "this woman did not wear modest clothes so why do we have to?" Or "Some one said that, it is not compulsory that we dress modestly so why bother?" For me these are just signs of ignorance.

We are not living in Stone Age. Some call this "the era of technology and mass communication". Why cannot one read and find those information and data we need to discipline ourselves? If we say we are Muslims than why do we just stop there and not find "Islamic tharbiyyath"? We are not short of religious scholars in this country to clarify any doubts one may have regarding Islamic way of life. I�m so glad that the Ulama in this country are so reachable with the press of a button, provided one has the interest to do so. So, search and look for information. Ignorance is not an excuse! We have the Internet, we have all sorts of communication abilities and why cannot we make good use of these things to seek knowledge?

Why can�t the parents see their children dressed so immodestly? Why do parents dress their children in such ways while the children are young? Isn�t it the responsibility of the parents to encourage their children to dress modestly, instead of cladding the children in tight and revealing clothes even while they are babies? Children are an amaanath from Allah. Then why cannot we take care of those amaanath and give the tharbiyyath we owe to them?

It is not true that every Maldivian girl or woman goes around the streets, dressed immodestly. However, this is the trend among many of our women, especially the up and coming generation. There are very respectable women in this country who follow modesty when it comes to wearing clothes.

Some blame the tourism industry for exposing our women to such immodest ways of dressing, while others blame the Western countries where many of our younger generation get their higher education. It is not fair to generalise like this. Even in the time of jahilliyath, there had been modest Muslims. They respected their religion and way of life. To be able to live with people of any faith at the same time respecting to one�s own belief is a great strength. If we need to copy from others and learn, try to learn and act on those things that do not contradict with our beliefs and ways of life. We have to have self-control and the ability to control our urge against anything that can spoil the reputation of our religion, culture and modest way of life. This is a responsibility every Maldivian should shoulder - men and women alike!

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