Sunday, March 17, 2024

Cave of the seven sleepers




There was a group of young men from the Roman city of Ephesus. They fled to a cave and went to sleep. They slept & slept for a very long time. Guess for how long?

A day? Maybe two?

No, they slept for over 300 years.

What?!! That’s not possible!

It’s a story in both the Quran and the Bible. In the Quran there is a Surah called Al-Kahf. The chapter is about the sleepers called As’hab Al-Kahf ކަހުފްބާގައިގެމީހުން

During the time of Roman Emperor Trajenus Decius (Daqyanoos in Arabic) around 250AD, seven young men in Ephesus were accused of following Chritianity. At that time Christianity was banned in the Roman Empire. So they were ordered to recant their faith & bow to Roman idols. But instead they chose to give up everything and retire to a cave to pray. Emperor Decius ordered the mouth of the cave to be sealed.

So what happened to the seven sleepers?

While they were sleeping many emperors changed. Romans abandoned their gods. In 325AD Roman Emperor Constantine I had a vision and declared Christianity, the faith of the sleepers as the official religion of the empire.

Finally, in the reign of Theodosius II around 400AD a farmer opened the cave. The sleepers woke up thinking that they had slept just one day, and one of them went to Ephesus to buy food. Arriving in the city, he was astounded to find totally different buildings with crosses attached. The people were shocked to find a man trying to spend old coins from the reign of Decius. The bishop was summoned to interview the sleepers and they told him their miracle story.

The Islamic version has a dog named Qitmir. Allah made them and the dog sleep for 309 years. When they woke up, there was a king named Tandoosees (Theodosius II), who came to see them and seek their blessings. When the men died they were buried in the cave along with their dog. 

LIFE IN PICTURES: Urban sunset


Sunset as seen from my room in Male', the capital island of Maldives.

Quotable quote


"I think it is dangerous to confuse the idea of democracy with elections. Just because you have elections doesn't mean you're a democratic country. They're a very vitally important part of a democracy. But there are other things that ought to function as checks and balances. If elections are the only thing that matter, then people are going to resort to anything to win that election.

"You can only campaign in a particular constitutional framework. If the courts, the press, the Parliament are not functioning as checks and balances, then this is not a democracy. And today in India, they are not functioning as checks and balances. If they were, Narendra Modi would be in jail today. He would not be allowed to campaign for office. Several candidates would be in jail today. Not to mention several senior people in the Congress Party who ought to have been in jail from 1984 onward for their roles in the massacre of Sikhs in Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.

"The good thing about elections is that however unaccountable politicians are at least every five years they have to stand for election. But the bureaucracy and the judiciary are completely unaccountable. Nobody understands the terrifying role that the judiciary is playing in India today. The Supreme Court is taking the most unbelievable positions. Its decisions affects the lives of millions of people. Yet to criticize them is a criminal offence."

-- Arundhati Roy, "The Shape of the Beast" 

Daniel Bosley – “I never dreamed of going somewhere like the Maldives”


The author of "Descent into Paradise: A Journalist’s Memoir of the Untold Maldives" on embracing his voice and perspective, close friends in the Maldives who were killed by Islamist vigilantes, and how the people of the island nation don’t have any genuine animosity towards Indians. READ MORE FROM THE HINDUSTAN TIMES

What would we see at the speed of light?

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Foreign vessel fishing in Maldivian waters confiscated and fined

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Maldivian introduces special fares for domestic flights

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Amitabh Bachchan lauds EAM S Jaishankar for showing mirror to Maldives over ‘Bully Indian’ barb

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Indian Cinema legend Amitabh Bachchan praised External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on March 04 over his sharp reaction on Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s ‘bully Indian’ barb. Responding sharply to a question whether “India was being a bully in the region” (sub-continent and the Indian Ocean region), at a book launch event in the national capital, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said “big bullies” don’t provide USD 4.5 billion in aid when neighbours are in distress. 

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AFGHANISTAN: Media landscape suffocated by repressive Taliban directives that target women in particular


PRESS RELEASE | 15 MARCH 2024

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by a worrying increase in the restrictions imposed on journalists, with authoritarian directives on women journalists' dress, restrictions on women's access to the audiovisual media and a ban on filming or photographing Taliban officials.

The Afghan repression continues to intensify and specifically targets women's access to the media, whether as journalists or as listeners and spectators. A series of directives issued since February illustrate this. The governor of Kandahar, in the south of the country, has banned video footage of local Taliban leaders. The chief of police in the eastern province of Khost has banned calls from women during radio or television broadcasts. More broadly, at national level, the Taliban Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has tightened the dress restrictions for women journalists by ordering them to wear black covering revealing only their eyes, on pain of being banned from working.

"At a time when journalists are already under the yoke of severe repression, censorship and self-censorship, new regional restrictions, which could extend to the rest of the country, and national restrictions are further destroying the Afghan media landscape. The silencing of the voices of female listeners and viewers in Khost, the ban on images of officials in Kandahar and the drastic dress restrictions on women journalists in the country are all worrying signs of the Taliban's ideological hardening, aimed particularly at women journalists. RSF calls on Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada to put an end to these repressive measures" - South Asia Desk, Reporters Without Borders.

On 18 February, the Taliban governor of Kandahar, Mullah Shirin Akhund, gave a written order to officials and soldiers in Kandahar not to allow photographs and films to be taken during their meetings. Only written material and audio recordings are now permitted. “For the moment, the order seems to be applied selectively," says an Afghan journalist in exile who wishes to remain anonymous. “The decision is affecting the channel Radio Television Afghanistan RTA Kandahar in particular, with far fewer faces on the screen, and instead images of landscapes and buildings.... but that's how it's starting. It could become a trend. “. As a result, RTA in Kandahar is only broadcasting now the voices of certain officials speaking on topical issues.

Educational and social programmes for girls targeted

In Khost province, in an official letter dated 24 February, the police chief, Abdul Rashid Omari, banned women from appearing on radio and television programmes in the province. This decision specifically targets media broadcasting educational and social programmes for young girls, where they are invited to talk and participate. Media managers have been warned that they will be prosecuted if they contravene the order.

Only the eyes visible

On 27 February in Kabul, the Taliban Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice warned media representatives of the possibility of a total ban on women journalists if they did not comply with a strict dress code. In other words, a black outfit covering the whole body, including the face, with only the eyes visible.

Since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, numerous restrictions on journalists have severely curtailed press freedom. Afghanistan is ranked 152nd out of 180 countries in RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

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When the British filmmaker took the stage after the Auschwitz-set Holocaust drama was announced as best international film, he was greeted with a standing ovation. He then referred to notes he’d prepared in advance, thanked the requisite players and drew a parallel between “Zone of Interest” and the current conflict in Gaza that was difficult to decipher given the audience applause and his own mumbling. READ MORE FROM VARIETY

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Chinese competitive surfing goes into hyperdrive as country produces first Olympian

China just produced an Olympic surfer and it happened much faster than we all expected. It took the Chinese just eight years after surfing’s 2016 Olympic inclusion to build a program from the ground up and churn out an Olympian. And, take my word for it, this is just a taste of what’s to come.  

The 14-year-old Siqi Yang earned her ticket to Paris 2024 at the ISA World Surfing Games. Her 15th place finish was enough to earn one of the eight slots for women that was in play. She’ll be not only the first Chinese surfer to compete in the Olympics, but she’ll be the youngest Olympic surfer ever when the event takes place at Teahupo’o in July. READ MORE FROM THE INERTIA