Magic of the Maldives

Maybe black magic can stop the climate crisis?

Maldives arrest climate change minister for using black magic on president

Wikipedia of the Week

Maybe Wiki isn´t *that* bad, after all? Perhaps I should have a "Wiki of the Week" on my blog? For instance, did you know that the Maldives used to be Mahayana-Vajrayana once? Of course you didn´t. Now, you do. 

And then there´s this: "In February 2012, a group of Islamic extremists forced their way into the National Museum in Malé and attacked the museum's collection of pre-Islamic sculptures, destroying or severely damaging nearly the entire collection about thirty Buddhist sculptures dating from the 6th to 12th centuries. Museum staff indicated that as the sculptures were made from very brittle coral or limestone it would be impossible to repair most of them, and only two or three pieces were in a repairable condition."

Buddhism in the Maldives

Mother is displeased

This review is from: Birds of the Indian Subcontinent: A Field Guide (Bombay Natural History Society) (Hardcover)

This looks more like a very basic reference work dressed up as a field guide, rather than a field guide proper. It covers 1,351 species with very short presentations and even smaller illustrations. Apparently, the work is based on a previous field guide, regarded as a classic, the so-called “Pictorial Guide” by Salim Ali and Dillon Ripley. The book covers India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives. I've never tracked songbirds in Mother India, but somehow, I suspect that avid birders should invest in another work…

A rambling lecture

"The Forgotten Queens of Islam" is something of a disappointment. The author, Muslim feminist Fatima Mernissi, delivers what sounds like an extended, rambling college lecture. Most of the material isn't even about the forgotten queens. Of course, the author needs to establish a context, but IMHO she strays too far away from the proper subject of the book. Mernissi also sounds preachy and moralistic. Is it a scholarly book? Or a political statement? Or a sermon, even?

As for the subject matter, Mernissi have only been able to find 15 female Muslim rulers before the election of Benazir Bhutto to head Pakistan in 1988. Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of them were "deviant" in one way or another. Some were connected to the Mongols, who had a more positive view of female rulers even after their conversion to Islam. Others ruled areas far outside the Sunni Arab fold: Shia Arab Yemen (where local traditions still eulogized the Queen of Sheba and in general rejected religious orthodoxy imposed from without), the Maldives and Aceh. Two other female rulers, Radiyya in India and Shajarat al-Durr in Egypt, were connected to the Mamluks, the former slave soldiers (and elite corps) who rebelled against their masters. There have also been de facto female rulers during shorter periods, but that's less sensational - such things are known from all patriarchal societies.

Thus, Mernissi paints a rather bleak picture of the Muslim world. The book is not some kind of feminist rehabilitation of the Muslim world. Quite the contrary. In a concluding chapter, Mernissi (who still sees herself as a Muslim) strongly implies that Islam might not be compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, democracy, free speech or indeed women's rights. At least not Islam as it has traditionally been understood for a very, very long time...

Despite its interesting subject matter, I will only give this book two stars because of its major stylistic deficiencies.