Islamism in action in Maldives

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Feb 15, 2012 at 01:24

Dear Dr Pipes:

While researching the history of Islamism and Sharia in Maldives I stumbled upon this article of yours that you wrote in 2004. I do not know what Prof Paul H Robinson's opinion is today on creating the Sharia court in Maldives but I hope that he is sorry. Islamists work with remarkable predictability and amazing senselessness. Just last week there was a coup in Maldives inwhich Islamists deposed a democratically elected head of state. That should not surprise anyone because that is the normal mode of operation in the Islamic world but what happened after that is even more shameful. Within the first week of Islamists coming to power Islamists entered the Maldivian national museum and --you guessed it-- destroyed a lot of per-Islamic Hindu and Buddist artifacts in the museum. Before Islam arrived in Malddives, it used to be a Hindu/Buddist kingdom.

I admire your foresight Dr Pipes that you wrote an article about Maldives almost 8 years ago. Maldives is a very small nation of just 500,000 people but Islamism is as much a danger there as anywhere else. It is remarkable that you noticed it and wrote about it. If Prof Robinson had not strengthened the hands of Islamist in 2004, today, probably, the historical relics may still have been safe. Every small thing matters and nothing must be ignored.

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