Most important
Location
General
Costs / Permits
Religious
_____ Q) Where are you located exactly?
A) Close to Molibagu, North-Sulawesi, Indonesia: 0°21'37.75" N 123°53'20.47" E. Please click here for google placemark.
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_____ Q) How do I reach you?
A) From Singapore to Manado with Silk Air. From Jakarta to Manado by several Airlines (most recommended is Batavia Air). From Manado it is about 7 hours by car to the valley, which we can send to you to the hotel (approx. 65 Euro). Taxi from airport to hotel like "Celebes" or "Riverside" is 70,000 Rupiah.
If you want to save a bit, go to Kotamobagu first, then via Molibagu another 17 km direction Gorontalo. You can also fly to Gorontalo from Jakarta. There is public transport from Gorontalo right to our place (anything which goes to Molibagu). These two options are only advised for people with experience in Indonesia.
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_____ Q) How far are you from the next hospital / doctor, school, shops etc?
A) Next health care center (they call it Puskesmas) is 3 km away, the next small hospital 17 km. Worse things should be treated in Manado, where there is a quite good hospital. Elementary school and secondary school about 3 km, but we will try to set up our own educational system, which is not too difficult in Indonesia as laws are not strict and teachers cheap. There are markets in the next villages once a week, and the bigger shops 17 km away. Bank 90 km / ATM machine for amounts up to 1,200,000 Rp drawing a time 17km away. Police Station 17 km.
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_____ Q) How is the climate?
A) Al-hamdulillah, it is not too hot, especially not at night time. One normally will need a blanket. But it is raining a lot from April until mid of August, so bring a good rain coat!
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_____ Q) Is there a lot of Malaria or other diseases?
A) Al-hamdulillah, there are sometimes Malaria cases, but rarely, and in the valley we have a constant wind, so it is never very hot and we have only a few mosquitoes. Also other serious diseases like dengue are rare.
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_____ Q) Are there other dangers like earthquakes, tsunamis, pirates, armed disputes etc.?
A) You have earthquakes all around the place in Indonesia, but insyaAllah it will not hit us. A tsunami is much more unlikely, as we are 1.5 km away from the coast in a valley behind a hill. No pirates or armed disputes, but one day there might be clashes between Christians and Muslims a bit further from here.
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_____ Q) Is there dangerous wildlife?
A) In the forest there are pythons. But to meet one is very unlikely. Sometimes they descend, as can be seen on the picture below where one caught one of our goats. The snakes, like most wildlife, will try to avoid humans and only attack if one gets in their way. There are no other life-threatening animals.
Python, which had one of our goats for dinner.
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Q) Is there power and running water or the possibility to acquire it?
A) No power supply yet. We can get an unreliable public one for around 2000 Euro, the amount we could share between the parties living in the valley. Or somebody has a better idea with solar / hydro power etc.. I am not a technician ;-)! We have a 900 Watt generator, which costs Rp. 1,900,000. There is already water hook on for the plots available, one can just plug in.
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Q) Is there Internet?
A) No, there is no internet in the valley! The next broadband internet is one hour driving away. We use a normal modem where one puts the common SIM card in (e.g. SIMPATI). It is okay for email and basic browsing. The modem we can use in a village 12km away from the valley. At our beach we can already connect to the internet but download is still too slow. Probably within a year it can be used there already.
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Q) Who are you / who lives in the valley?
A) So far we are:
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Habib (German), his wife Latifah (Indonesian) their son Ryan and their daughter Maryam.
- Mohammed Hosein and his wife Arifa, both Germans.
- Two brothers from Egypt bought some land, an Indonesian family as well as a brother from England but are not building yet. A piece of land at the entrance of the valley belongs to a Turkish brother.
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Q) I want to join! What steps do I have to take?
A) First come for a visit for at least one week! See the reality behind a nice looking website and if the place fits your expectations. But if you like to jump into the cold water, after making Shalat Istikharat, and leave everything behind to never look back: You are surely welcome! If it turns out that not the Medinahproject is the place for you but just helped you to encourage you in your hijrah, we will be happy too!
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Q) Can you build the house for me?
A) Yes, we can work out together a drawing and build it for you. We will take 10% of the building costs as fee. It will save you a lot of hassle and time, which you can use for gathering funds abroad.
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Q) How can I prepare myself and what can I do prior to staying in the valley?
A) Get yourself fit, strengthen your iman and look for useful information and skills like learning about permaculture, cattle breeding, horses, hunting and so on. And try to recruit good people for the project. And of course, get yourself an Indonesian dictionary and start to learn the language, which is one of the easiest: nearly no grammar at all!
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Q) What should I bring with me?
A) A good torch and a good raincoat, especially if you come between mid April and mid August. Do not carry cash with you! You will have a bad exchange. Bring a bank card with either Maestro, Cirrus, Plus, Master Card or Visa sign on it. Needless to say, the bank card should be "riba-free" as far as possible. 24 Karat Gold can also be exchanged easily.
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Q) What should I NOT bring with me / What should I tell the immigration officer?
A) Do not carry any valuable items like a lot of gold or silver with you as the customs will charge you heavily. Do not tell them anything about a Muslim Village. Just tell them you would like to visit Manado and that you would check in Celebes or Riverside Hotel. Keep in mind that most officers there are Christians!
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____ Q) Why do you not build the village in Germany?
A) Too cold, too expensive, but most importantly, Germany is much more controlled (e.g. how setting up our own educational system in Germany?) and the fitnah of the Dajjal will be much more severe (www.tauhid.net/antichrist-eng.html).
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Q) How many hours do you think we would be busy with work on the fields, maintenance etc.?
A) You can work all day long, but you can also give the work to a local and pay him 3.50 Euro a day! Certainly we have to work in order to keep us fit and to know how to do it all ourselves in case we have an emergency. But my ideal is not to become an Indonesian farmer, but hope to be able to spend some time also on ibadah, learning, riding, shooting and others...
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Q) Do you accept donations?
A) Yes, we welcome donations for the following:
- Building of the mosque inside the valley (the priority at the moment).
- Supporting children in the surrounding villages (education).
Please contact us if you like to donate.
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Q) How much does the land cost?
A) Please see under Join us!
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Q) How much does a house cost?
A) That depends very much on your own expectations. One can build a simple hut for 300 Euro, but if it should become solid, then approx. 120 Euro per m2. Main house 175m2 would cost nowadays approx. 21,000 Euro. There is also the possibility to buy pre-build wooden houses in Tomohon. Please browse for "Minahasa wooden house".
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Q) What kind of visa can I get?
A) If you come from an European country you get normally two months visit visa if you get it at the embassy or one month visa on arrival. The visa on arrival costs US$ 25 and can be extended for another month at the immigration. If you have a sponsor here in Indonesia, you can get up to 6 months, but will have to renew it after two months every month.
If you are over 55 years of age, you can get a residence permit similar to one you can get when having an Indonesian spouse. We can arrange those for you insyaAllah for 10% of the costs. Otherwise you will have to open a business to get a residence permit.
Further information can be obtained at www.okusi.net:
Work Permit & Resident Visa Package (KITAS/IMTA) - US$814
Work or reside in Indonesia legally, without immigration problems.
Fee includes: Manpower Approval - RPTKA (if required), Manpower Dept Recommendation.
Working Visa & Work Permit - KITAS, IMTA, Foreign Workers Report.
Other Permits - POA, SKPPS, STMD, STM, SKLD, etc.
Note that the above fee does not include the compulsory US$1,200 "Skills & Development Fund" levy payable to the Dept. of Manpower, should this be necessary. Family members of the holder of the working permit do not have to pay this levy.
If you do not have a sponsor, Okusi Associates can arrange one for you with an additional payment of US$904, subject to our appraisal and approval.
(Okusi Associates provides special discount rates for governments, corporates and international aid organizations who require multiple visas to be processed simultaneously. Please contact us for further information.)
Single Exit Re-entry Permit - US$97
Multiple Exit Re-entry Permit (6 months) - US$141
Multiple Exit Re-entry Permit (12 months) - US$256
Exit Permit Only - US$142
Police Travel Permit - US$81
Terms: Full payment in advance. Money-back guarantee.
To make it short: One needs about US$ 3500 to get a residence and work permit for oneself and the family which can be prolonged every year for about half the costs.
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_____ Q) How much money do I need?
A) That depends very much on your own needs. You can buy some land for 1000 Euro already, build a simple hut for 1000 Euro, get a motorbike for 1000 Euro and calculate, that you will need approx. 100 Euro for living a month and even slightly more for the visa extensions.
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Q) What kind of bank cards are accepted?
A) A bank card with either Maestro, Cirrus, Plus, Master Card or Visa sign on it.
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_____ Q) What does the transfer from the airport Manado to the valley cost?
A) It is currently Rp 750,000 for the car regardless of how many persons as long as they fit in.
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Q) How to generate the income?
A) Normally one has to invest. It is realistic to expect about 10% to 15% return annually but of course much depending on personal skills. There are trustworthy local brothers here who can help build up something together for example:
- Muslim restaurant
- fish farm
- chicken farm
- goat rearing
- truck for building materials
- building houses
- supermarket
We are a new region to which at the moment many resources flow, besides others government support to develop this region. As side effect many people move here for whom infrastructure must be built.
We will also need a shop which hopefully can operate on a "Dinar- & Dirham basis", so that one can already buy riba-free! We can obtain Dinar, Dirham and Daniq at Wakala or dinarfirst.org. There is also the possibility to produce handicraft for export like bows or wooden toys.
Best option might be nonetheless to set up a business one can manage over the internet like translation works: www.freelancers.com. No big investments needed and can be done from anywhere. Even if one can generate only 300 Euro a month, this is sufficient here!
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Q) Are there places to sell/buy gold and silver?
A) Yes, one can buy 24 Karat Gold and Silver easily with the advantage of low difference between buying and selling price. One can also acquire dinar and dirham at wakala or dinarfirst.
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Q) How much would it cost to establish a lifelong residence at this muslim village?
A) Rizq is in the hands of Allah, and to say you need so and so much money would somehow be even irreligious. All I can say is:
And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him.
At-Talaaq 3
It is a promise of Allah, who never breaks His promise! And your rizq is already ordained!
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_____ Q) How much do horses, sheep, goats and chicken cost?
A) Horse from 1000 Euro (a riding horse, the ones for 'bendis' are of course cheaper); cow around 350 Euro; sheep would have get imported from Java; female goat around 40 Euro, big male goat more than 100 Euro; chicken three Euro.
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_____ Q) Do I need a permit for the house?
A) You will need a permit and therefore a drawing of the house for the wood. You may use 5 m3 of wood (of course this will most probably not enough).
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A) Can you tell me some general rules of the place?
Q) We had initially the idea to only issue rental contracts to keep control of the place. But some interested parties wanted to have real ownership. But real ownership of course means that in general people are free to do whatever they like with their lands even opening a bar (may Allah protect us)! The initial idea included a share in the harvest of the coconuts and other benefits. In a sense, the whole valley would have become waqf from the beginning!
So the rules we once set up in the original renting contract are now only understood as a general guideline one should agree to when buying a place in the valley:
FIRST PARTY has the right to terminate the renting contract in case SECOND PARTY commits
• Criminal acts under Islamic law which cannot dealt with internally because prescribed Islamic punishment cannot take place under secular law (like theft, fornication, using illegal drugs / alcohol etc).
• Other serious matters which fall under the category of "enormities" in Islam. They will be judged by the Shura (consisting of every male adult of the village) taking as its guideline the Shariah in interpretation of the Shafi'i Mazhab. In addition, several things, not necessarily enormities, should be mentioned, if done repeatedly:
• Slander, backbiting, tale bearing, lying, quarreling, cheating and the like causing enmity and bad feelings between the residents.
• Causing annoyance to the neighbours (e.g. with music & other noise, bad smells etc.).
• Causing annoyance to women.
• Eating, drinking or smoking in public during daytime in the month of Ramadhan.
• Allowing a man and woman who are not Muhrim in the house alone.
• Keeping dogs except for legitimate purposes.
• Disputing and / or challenging the mentioned foundation of jurisprudence of the 'Village' (Shafi'i Mazhab) unless qualified persons (see Addendum) are present as scholar and qadi.
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Q) How can I be sure that Shariah based on Qur'an and Sunna will be applied there? Who will enforce it and how?
A) There is no real means to enforce the Shariah, first of all because we are still living in a secular country, secondly, because most of the people own the plots. So we hope that only people get attracted to the project who want to abide to the Shariah and be obedient to an amir voluntarily.
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Q) May women without Muhrim partake?
A) This is a difficult question und we are not scholars! We are aware that there exist different opinions about that even within a school of jurisprudence! We decided that they can based on the following ayaat (revealed in Medina):
"O ye who believe! When believing women come unto you as fugitives, examine them. Allah is Best Aware of their faith. Then, if ye know them for true believers, send them not back unto the disbelievers." (60:10)
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_____ Q) Did you get the order to do the project from a muslim leader or straight from the prophetic hadith?
A) No, I did not get any order! It is for me a very logical conclusion backed by several ahadith like stated on the website. However, I admit that these ahadith do speak more about isolating oneself rather than creating a Muslim village. Two years after I had already the plan for the village I heard about Sheik Imran Hosein (www.imranhosein.org), who shares many points of mine. Not all of his thoughts can be realized at this location here, e.g. basing the economy of the village on biological farming. But the general idea and ideal are more or less the same.
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Q) If you got the order from the prophetic hadith, then how did you weigh that against other rulings and possibilities?
A) Even if I should be wrong about my expectations of the future, then it is still a project I would support! Creating a surrounding where one can live in harmony with Allah's creation in a religious atmosphere where our children get an Islamic spirit rather than a "globalized" one is certainly praiseworthy. But if anybody has a different point of view and thinks it is more beneficial to stay in the common society then he should do so! Anyway, he would have only very weak points of criticism against such a project!
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Q: The first condition you put in the 'unity'-section makes sense. However the other two conditions may cause more debate. You do not like to see Maulid but are talking about tolerance. Can you explain further and give an example?
A: I had once a discussion with a brother visiting us. He was talking about the Shia and what kind of bid'ah they are practicing, for example putting this stone in front of them when praying. He made quite a disgusted face when talking. I told him that it is actually not a stone but a dried piece of soil and asked him if he knew why they were doing it. He said 'No!'
That is an example that people judge others without even asking why they doing a certain kind of practice and trying to get an understanding first.
I told him then that the Prophet's Mosque had soil floor and that one could see the marks of mud on the Prophet's s.a.w. forehead after rain. There would be also a hadith about the sahabas praying in the desert on a hot day using some cloth in front of them to avoid the heat of the sand whereupon the Prophet s.a.w. told them to remove it because it would be better to get a mark on their foreheads. Using a piece of soil is therefore backed by Sunnah!
Q: You are trying to say that a widely accepted practice like Maulid should be banned and this weird soil thing of the Shia should be accepted?
A: 'Widely accepted" does not mean much nowadays as we then would have to accept democratic elections and interest banking as well! And although something might look weird, we have to investigate first if it has backing in Qur'an and Sunnah or not.
The Prophet s.a.w. and his sahabas did not read the Qur'an on IPod nor did they go for Hajj on airplane. But these things are not considered bid'ah. And although the sahabas did not make a piece of soil to put in front of them, they were praying on soil! The Shia could argue that they can still keep the "Sunnah" even in places where others invented artificial materials like ceramics and synthetic carpets. So who is the innovator?
The Prophet s.a.w. DID pray on soil and he DID order the sahabas to pray directly on soil / sand!
The Prophet s.a.w. DID NOT celebrate his birthday and DID NOT order his companions to do it! In the contrary there are ahadith which contradict such a practice like the one that we should not imitate the Christians!
The essence is "Reading Qur'an"! It does not matter if the Qur'an is written on goat skin or on the computer!
The essence is "Going to Hajj"! It does not matter if on a camel or an airplane!
The essence is "Putting our forehead on soil"! It does not matter if the whole mosque has soil floor or just a piece in front of us!
The essence is "Celebrating birthday"! It does not matter if this includes highly recommended forms of worship which one also can do 24/7 without Maulid!
Of course, there will be always cases which can raise debates, but insyaAllah if we keep these principles in mind and also the goal to reach unity, insyaAllah we will succeed!
And if anybody tells you, that piece of soil should be made out of the blessed soil of Kerbela where Imam Hussein was martyred, you do me a big favour when taking this piece of soil and throwing it in our river!
As a piece of information: Not only a part of the Shia believes that the place of prayer / sujud should be soil or made out of natural materials! For those we have the good news that our place of prayer has wooden floor and mats made out of leaves!
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