Heritage

When a Heritage Mosque Is Left Without a Roof

Jamsheed Hassan

18 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

What I saw was not neglect in theory, but neglect in fact.

The mosque stands, but only just.
Its walls remain, but the roof is now gone.
What was once a place of prayer, memory, and continuity is exposed to sun, rain, and decay.

This is not gradual aging.
This is structural loss.

What Kudamiski’y Represents

Kudamiski’y is not just another old building.
It is the oldest surviving religious structure on Ukulhas — a physical witness to how faith, community, and island life were once organized.

It carries:

architectural memory
spiritual continuity
historical identity

And yet, despite being officially listed as heritage on the Ukulhas Council website, it has been left without protection, maintenance, or urgency.

Heritage, in name only, is not heritage.
It is paperwork.

Removing the Distractions, Facing the Reality

This is not about surrounding features or missing elements.
This is about the mosque itself.

A mosque without a roof is not “awaiting restoration.”
It is actively deteriorating.

Once structural integrity is compromised, restoration becomes reconstruction.
And once reconstruction replaces preservation, authenticity is lost forever.

At that point, we are no longer protecting heritage —
we are building replicas and calling them history.

Development Without Memory

Ukulhas speaks often about:

local island tourism
culture
identity
sustainability

But culture cannot be shown through brochures alone.
It must exist in physical form.

What culture can we show visitors — or our own children —
when the only historic mosque on the island is allowed to collapse quietly?

Development that does not protect its foundations is not progress.
It is displacement of memory.

Education, Wisdom, and Responsibility

We educate ourselves to become more capable, more productive, more informed.

But education that does not produce wisdom and responsibility is incomplete.

There is an old truth, often forgotten in modern governance:

Knowledge is not proven by titles or degrees,
but by the care we take of what has been entrusted to us.

Wisdom is shown not in plans and policies,
but in what we choose not to neglect.

The Question That Remains

Kudamiski’y did not collapse overnight.
It was not destroyed by disaster.

It was lost through inaction.

So the question is not whether Ukulhas values heritage in words.
The question is simpler — and harder:

If a listed heritage mosque can lose its roof without response,
what exactly does “heritage protection” mean on this island?

Because once a roof is gone,
time does not wait for explanations.

And history, once lost, does not return.

bstract image of a structured system held in balance without directional cues, representing governance based on limits rather than forecasts.

Planning Beyond 2045: Governing Systems, Not Forecasts

When prediction becomes the wrong tool Forecasting has long been the comfort layer of planning. If the future can be projected, it can be prepared for. If trends are known, policies can be timed. This logic works in systems that forgive delay. Island systems do not. In non-ergodic environments—where

Abstract image of a defined boundary creating protected space, representing limits that make durable growth possible.

What Maldives 2045 Must Protect Before It Can Grow

Growth without protection is not progress Growth is not the danger. Unprotected growth is. In island systems, what disappears first rarely shows up on balance sheets. It is margin. Refusal. Time. By the time loss becomes measurable, recovery options have already narrowed. Maldives 2045 cannot begin with targets alone. It

Abstract image suggesting continued forward motion without a braking mechanism, representing structural inaction driven by incentives.

The Political Economy of Inaction

Why warning signs rarely translate into restraint By the time patterns become clear, the obvious question is no longer what is happening. It is why nothing changes. The answer is uncomfortable, but it is not personal. Inaction in island systems is not driven by ignorance or denial. It is produced

narrowing corridor, representing a future where choices progressively close and reversal becomes impossible.

The 2035 Scenario: When Local Island Capacity Becomes Irreversible

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