Carpet intended for Prophet's (pbuh) grave up for auction

Sotheby's is planning to auction off a carpet once intended to adorn the grave of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The carpet was commissioned in the 1860s by the Maharaja of Baroda (present-day Vadodara, Gujarat, India). Its name, the Pearl Carpet of Baroda, comes from the fact that it is encrusted with about "two million natural seed pearls" from the Persian Gulf.

The Maharaja's death put an end to plans to send the carpet to the Prophet's (pbuh) grave. The carpet travelled from India to Monaco, and is now housed in Qatar.

Bidding is to start at US $5 million (C $6.2 million), but Sotheby's is predicting that the carpet could sell for up to US $20 million (C $24.8 million) (BBC).

In life, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) slept on a straw mat or a leather mattress stuffed with fibre. Living a life of humility and simplicity was his conscious choice. God alone knows, but I very much doubt the Prophet would have approved of the decoration of his tomb with literally millions of pearls. So I'm glad that this carpet is being treated as a work of art, rather than a religious object. And I'm certainly glad that it never did end up at the Prophet's graveside.

British "goddess" wants to extend stay in India

Stephen Cooper, a British man who says he has a "gender identity disorder", has been worshipped for the past month in Gujarat, either as a goddess, or as the goddess' messenger. He has spent this month at a temple in the town of Becharaji, which draws many Hindu eunuchs, who visit the temples hoping to have their "manhood" restored in the next life. They have been seeking blessings from Cooper and addressing him as "Ma", or "mother".

Cooper, who has changed his name to Pema (which means "lotus"), and is considered by some to be an incarnation of Bahuchar Mata, the patron goddess of eunuchs, came to India on a six-month visa, but would like to remain in Becharaji for the rest of his life (BBC).