Comment: A brief history of ‘ladini’

Ladini, an Arabic word often translated as ‘irreligious’ or ‘non-religious’ is being thrown around to describe President Nasheed, especially with more vigour after his Copenhagen speech.

The content of the speech, otherwise benign to most ears, discusses various strategies to deal with Wahhabism and extremism in the Maldives.

This particular aspect of the speech has been taken out of context to present Nasheed as a person against Islam in general, by government-aligned media. Such a thought is scandalous in a country, where more than 98 percent of the population is Muslim as estimated by Pew Research Centre. In conjunction with this media campaign there has been a coordinated effort to spray paint the word ladini in yellow on numerous walls (yellow being the colour of his political party).