Ukulhas on verge of becoming another extremist den

UKULHAS ISLAND, North Ari atoll, October 20, 2007 (Haveeru News Service) - After landing on Ukulhas island in North Ari atoll, one of Maldives\' top tourism zones, Haveeru Daily reporters found that like neighboring Himandhoo, this island may be on the verge of becoming another den for Islamic extremists.

As we came on to the island, we passed a woman and asked her where the island\'s mosque was.

\"There is no mosque,\" she replied. \"We have only one mosque built by the government but that has been closed because we found out that the mosque was constructed on top of a graveyard.”

The mosque called Masjid Al-Thaqwa has been closed down for almost three years now. Ever since the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs shut down the mosque on 3 November 2005, the issue has been hotly contested among the 700 residents in this island.

After the closure of the official mosque, a radical extremist group emerged in this island, and they have been conducting prayer congregations at a makeshift mosque which is illegal under Maldives\' laws.

After closing the official mosque, the Government asked the people to use a social center called Kanbaafaanu Maalan (hall) but differences rose again, and a group of people now pray at an illegal mosque set up at a house called Heenaamaage.

A local told Haveeru that the reason why most people boycotted the social center was because of the presence of a television providing cable TV services.

\"Cable TV shows programs which promotes other religions,\" a resident told Haveeru.

He said that in addition, the social center was not constructed in a way in which it faces the Kaaba, Islam\'s holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, towards which Muslims face during prayers.

The issue of extremism has been in the limelight ever since the Police and the Army clashed with an extremist group over an illegal mosque in Himandhoo during an operation to search for key suspects in the island following the September 29 bombing of the Sultan Park in the capital Male in which 12 foreign tourists were injured.

Ukulhas\' Island Chief Mohamed Khalid told Haveeru today that efforts to dismantle the makeshift mosque has been unsuccessful so far.

\"Over the past three years, staff of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and even the Police came to this island to convince the breakaway group to rejoin official congregations. But their efforts have been unsuccessful,\" he said.

Khalid said that the Supreme Council\'s Usman Abdulla twice arrived in the island to advice the extremists on the importance of following the true moderate path.

\"But the community would not listen to him,\" Khalid said.

One reason why Ukulhas has been unable to tackle with rising extremism is the mistrust the community has in the Government.

\"Since Usman was a public servant, the people feel that he will only give the Government\'s view on Islam rather than the truth about Islam,\" Khalid said.

He named certain self-proclaimed Islamic scholars like Sheikh Fareed, late Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim, Sheikh Ilyas, Sheikh Idris and a person named Abdulla Ali as having the trust of Ukulhas people.

\"When there is a contesting issue, residents telephone them and get their advice\" rather than seek the Government\'s advice, Khalid said.

\"The scholars do not come here to give sermons but residents keep in touch with them through mobile phones,\" he said.

Khalid expressed concern that many of the extremists were youths, and that many more young people are on the verge of being brainwashed by extremists.

\"They are self-proclaimed Islamic scholars. They do not have formal training. They refer to dubious extremist books and CDs to find out more about the Islamic way of life,\" Khalid said.

Many residents here fear that the island could become another Himandhoo as the breakaway group now number around 80. In Himandhoo, the breakaway group numbered around a 100.

Six women in this island are defying the Government by wearing the abaya which covers their faces. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom recently declared that it is illegal to don clothing which hides the identity of the person. Hence, it is not clear how the Government will deal with the situation in this island.

And what is ironic is that among those six women wearing the veil, three are daughters of Khalid, which has led to some residents accusing Khalid of facilitating extremists.

However, Khalid denied the charges and said that he has no control over his daughters because they were married.

\"Their husbands wanted my daughters to wear the abaya after they were married. So there is nothing I can do about it,\" he said.

The breakaway group joins in illegal congregations at Heenaamaage quite openly and even write down their own sermons for Juma (Friday) prayers which is again illegal as the Government requires only official sermons to be read in all mosques across the archipelago.

After such prayers, the congregation even distributes leaflets supporting extremist ideas, according to residents.

There is also no official imam to lead the prayers and the group\'s members take their turns in calling for prayers and conducting them.

Some residents say that no study has been conducted to find out whether the official mosque was really built on a graveyard. Hence, they claim that they don\'t believe that the mosque is sitting on top of a graveyard.

\"But we closed down the mosque after testimony by some people,\" Khalid insisted.

\"Some people wanted to dig under the mosque. We need to dig at least eight feet but there is a fear that the mosque may collapse, so we didn\'t want to dig under the mosque,\" Khalid said.

While the official mosque has been closed for years, there are no signs that the Government is planning to set up another mosque away from any graveyards.

Some residents feel that the official mosque has to be built in the harbor area but there are people who are against it.

Sources said that the same self-proclaimed Islamic scholars who spread extremism in Himandhoo were responsible in taking Ukulhas also along the tragic path of extremism.

(Translated from an article by Ahmed Hamdhoon, Haveeru News Service)