Sex, Stonings, and Back Street Abortions

Few places in the world see celebrity soccer players, Russian oligarchs, arms dealers, Madonna, and the Taliban occupying the same stretch of sand, let alone infinity plunge pool. But the Maldives is where the rich, famous, and notorious go for their private romantic getaways, and the isolation, unique geography, and no-questions-asked visa policy of the Indian ocean archipelago offers rare freedom from prying eyes.

Predictably, the Maldivian regime's declaration last week of a state of emergency (which has since been lifted) triggered another wave of "Trouble in Paradise" headlines. But this is a misnomer: paradise in the Maldives is strictly reserved for tourists, the resorts demarcated from the rest of the country. Few tourists looked up from their daiquiris amid a week of presidential assassination plots, exploding yachts, bomb threats, internecine political battles, pro-democracy protests, and illicit extraditions, just as few did during the 2012 coup that toppled the country's first democratically-elected leader. The resorts might as well be in a different country.

The Maldives as experienced by most Maldivians is quite the opposite of paradise—but "Trouble in Trouble" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Half the population of 350,000 live in the capital city of Malé, a congested concrete jumble of candy-colored buildings barely 2.2 square kilometers [1.4 square miles] in size. Alcohol is banned, entertainment options are limited. Sixty percent of the population is under the age of 25, preyed upon by violent gangs and Islamic radicals, and crippled by drug abuse and boredom. A blackmarket bottle of vodka can cost up to $140 USD; brown sugar heroin can be at the door faster than a pizza.

The constitution nonetheless mandates that 100 percent of the population be Muslim, a facet of life strictly enforced both by the authorities and the threat of extreme social ostracism. Tourists on romantic resort getaways blissfully sun themselves on beaches a few hundred feet from "local" islands where Maldivian women are routinely sentenced to 100 lashes for the crime of extramarital sex. Last month a woman was sentenced to death by stoning, although fortunately, this was later overturned.

Maldivian rulers have often exploited Islamic nationalism, inventing threats, and unifying the population under the banner of "defending Islam" from other religions. But it is the criminalization of extramarital sex rather than proselytizing that undoubtedly contributes to one of the Maldives' more surprising statistics: the world's highest divorce rate.

The reasons are complex—and a fascinating example of a people and culture adapting to suit enforced conservatism.

"It is easy to marry in these islands because of the smallness of the dowries and the pleasures of society which the women offer," observed the famous Islamic explorer Ibn Battuta, writing in the 14th century.

"Most people do not even fix any dowry. When the ships put in, the crew marry; when they intend to leave, they divorce their wives. This is a kind of temporary marriage (muta). I have seen nowhere in the world women whose society was more pleasant."