YESTERDAY I received a letter from a close friend of mine who wrote, “I have just returned from one of the most beautiful places on earth: the Maldives. This charming group of islands is visited every year by millions of tourists from all over the world. I was surprised, though, by the total lack of churches on the islands. I later learned that it is forbidden for the island’s citizens to practice any religion other than Islam. The few Christians who reside there are viewed with suspicion, and are only allowed to pray inside their own homes. So what I first saw as a kind of ‘heaven on earth’ gradually lost part of its lustre, and I don’t think I will spend another holiday on those islands. Sober Torbay, my hometown in Britain, is not such a bad place after all!”
Naturally I share my friend’s disapproval of the backward mindset reigning in Maldivian society which is ruled by Islam’s most conservative precepts.
According to Open Doors, a Christian missionary organisation, the Maldives are, “the only country in the world which requires all citizens to be Muslims. Conversion to another faith is prohibited by law, and converts face extreme pressure from family and society – often to leave the country. The authorities exert extensive control on the people to correct any diversion from Islam. There are no church gatherings or buildings.”
Open Doors also affirms that the Maldives are moving towards Deobandi Islam, the religion of the Taliban, whose mission is to cleanse Islam of all foreign influences. In 2011, the Chief Justice even criticised a silent protest for religious tolerance as weakening the country’s faith. Unsurprisingly, there are very few indigenous Christian believers on the islands, and foreign Christians have to be careful.
Recent events have put a spotlight on Islamic fundamentalism in the Maldives after a 15-year-old girl, who had been repeatedly raped by her stepfather, was sentenced to one hundred lashes for ‘fornication’. A petition by the global advocacy group Avaaz has been signed by more than two million people demanding a tourist boycott until the flogging sentence is annulled. However, the religious Adhaalath party backed the flogging, saying, “The purpose of penalties like these in Islamic Sharia law is to maintain order in society and to save it from sinful acts. We must turn a deaf ear to the international organisations which are calling to abolish these penalties.”
Few of the million visitors to the Maldives see this darker side of the country. Most are whisked off to uninhabited resort islands even before setting foot on the crowded capital of Malé.
We should always be careful when choosing the location of our next holiday, especially if we are thinking of travelling to some little known location. We should first of all bear in mind that when we visit another country, we are automatically subjecting ourselves to the rules of that country – we are in fact entering a place that is someone else’s home. Therefore, if that country’s laws run counter to our way of thinking and faith, then we should think carefully about whether we really need to go there. Secondly, even if we do not see the suffering of the local people because we have been skilfully confined in ‘gilded prisons’, we have to be aware that as tourists we may be financially assisting the governments in oppressing the local population.
Do not get me wrong, however. I am not suggesting we should boycott countries with oppressive governments, but simply that we should be more responsible as travellers.
Beyond health issues, which are naturally very important, it is always necessary to inform ourselves on the countries we intend to visit if we wish to avoid unpleasant surprises, unintentional conflicts or even episodes of disrespect toward the local inhabitants. The Internet can be a very useful tool in acquiring information on the cultural and ethical mores of our hypothetical destinations, keeping in mind what Samuel Johnson said a few centuries ago, “The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they really are.”
Updated on October 06 2016