Many a times we can make statements that may appear similar to Islamic opinions but they emanate from other than Islamic sources. Take for example  the recent controversy about Maldivian government granting huge amounts of loans to some high profile people. Most of the public almost jumped immediately to condemn the government's action and declared it as a "bad" action. As a matter of fact, the MDP has tried to use this case as an opportunity to win support for its objective of posturing as an "alternative" to the current government. For us, Muslims we have to apply the Islamic criteria to determine what is good or bad. From an Islamic perspective, what is "bad" about this is the fact that government deals with riba. The amount and to whom they are given do not matter in Islam. And Islam equally condemns riba transactions that take place amongst common people. But this issue of riba did not feature in any discussions regarding this loan controversy although that is the aspect that Islam considers to be crucial. This is because even the common man is now involved in riba transactions. Now, the question is, from what perspective did the people see the government action as "bad" ? As stated above, it is certainly not from the Islamic perspective. The only answer is that their opinion was borne out of jealousy  and they have committed a sin by not using Islam as a basis for their thoughts. Similarly, this case cannot be used as an argument to prove the legitimacy of MDP because this party viewed the issue from the same corrupt basis.

Therefore if our whims and desires start dictating what is good and what is bad, anyone can judge and execute another person based on his personal criteria which may change from time to time. We have to agree on some basis to determine what is corrupt, good and bad. Based on the Islamic criteria, what is wrong with the Maldivian government is actually what is wrong with the rest of the 53+ Muslim countries in the world. That is, none of them are ruled by what Allah has revealed. If we can agree that this is indeed our problem, then Islam has mandated a very specific path to pursue. If we cant agree that absence of Islam in all the layers of society as our problem then we will continue to hear laughable opinions such as ''the government has put the lamp post in the wrong place'',''the government has put the traffic light in the wrong road''. And the absence of a unified viewpoint will leave a huge vacuum in the society which will be filled by the deceiving kuffar. We have to remember that we will be accounted for every action we undertake including how we account the ruler and how we evaluate political parties. And we are forbidden from using a criteria other than Islam.