How disturbing to learn that the sand on the beach at the Palazzo Versace Dubai will be chilled. This mondo luxe development will refrigerate its beach using a network of buried pipes. It will also feature a chilled 820 square meter outdoor pool and a simulated marine environment called the “scuba lagoon.” Engineered nature, I suspect, is not an eco-friendly kind of thing. And it’s definitely not halal.

According to Soheil Abedian, president of Palazzo Versace Dubai, “We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on. This is the kind of luxury that top people want.” Next thing you know there will be a Palazzo Versace at Gstaad with heated snow. 

Doesn’t it make more sense for rich people to go to the climates they prefer, rather than bringing the climates to them? As it is said, if the mountain won’t come to Mohammad, then Mohammad goes to the mountain. The story goes that Mohammad, to prove a point, prayed for the mountain to come to him. When it didn’t, he walked there himself and then thanked God for His mercy, because had this prayer been granted, Mohammad and those with him would have been crushed by the mountain. The point is to deal with the world as it is rather than expecting it to conform to you. Donatella Versace is clearly not a Muslim or she might have learned this very wise lesson from the teachings of Islam.

I’ve never been a huge fan of things Versace. So don’t expect to find me living in one of the 80+ condominium residences of the Palazzo Versace’s “Ala Sinistra” wing. Yes, that’s the inspired name for one wing of the development. Bravissima, Donatella!

•