Islamonweb

Malé, Maldives — The Maldives is commemorating 900 Hijri years since the nation embraced Islam, marking a historic milestone in a journey that has profoundly shaped the country's religious, cultural and national identity.

Official celebrations were launched in Hulhumalé with President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, First Lady Sajidha Mohamed, senior state officials, foreign diplomats, young khaṭībs and qārīs, and members of the public in attendance. The government also unveiled an official logo and slogan that will be used throughout a year-long programme commemorating the anniversary.

The Maldives traditionally dates its embrace of Islam to 548 AH (1153 CE), when the Buddhist ruler King Dhovemi accepted Islam and became Sultan Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullāh. Maldivian tradition associates the country's conversion with a visiting Muslim scholar known as Abū al-Barakāt Yūsuf al-Barbarī, although historians have proposed different views regarding his precise identity and origin.

Following the ruler's conversion, Islam spread through the islands and the former Buddhist kingdom developed into an Islamic sultanate. Over the following nine Hijri centuries, Islam became closely intertwined with Maldivian society, law, architecture, education and national identity.

The famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, who reached the Maldives in the fourteenth century and served there as a qāḍī, provides one of the most important medieval accounts of Islamic life in the islands. His writings also record the already-established Maldivian tradition concerning the arrival of the Muslim preacher associated with the country's conversion.

Addressing the national commemoration, President Muizzu described Islam as the essence of the Maldives' “cultural sovereignty and independence” and the cornerstone of Maldivian nationhood. He called on the present generation to transmit the country's Islamic values to future generations and to remain steadfast in faith amid the challenges of an increasingly interconnected world.

The 900th anniversary is being marked not through a single ceremony but through an extensive year-long national programme. The Ministry of Arts, Culture and Heritage has announced around 15 major activities across Greater Malé and the atolls. These include a national Qur'an recitation festival, an international Islamic trade fair, an Islamic calligraphy festival, an Islamic film festival, scholarly programmes, a youth Islamic heritage camp, an Islamic history museum gallery, and initiatives devoted to preserving manuscripts and the country's distinctive Islamic architectural heritage. A permanent monument commemorating 900 Hijri years of Islam is also planned for Greater Malé.

Largest Mosque in the Maldives to Mark the Anniversary

One of the most significant projects associated with the anniversary is the Sultan Mohamed Bin Abdullah Grand Mosque and Islamic Civilisation Centre in Hulhumalé Phase II. President Muizzu laid its foundation stone on 13 September.

Named after the ruler associated with the beginning of the Maldives' Islamic era, the project will include what is planned to be the largest mosque in the country, with capacity for 10,000 worshippers.

The complex will extend well beyond the prayer hall. Plans include an Islamic library, Qur'an museum, cultural centre, exhibition hall for Islamic and historical exhibitions, multipurpose community hall, visitor facilities and an Islamic bookstore. The entire project is being funded by Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Company.

More Than 700 Young Khaṭībs Trained

The anniversary celebrations have also placed particular emphasis on passing the country's Islamic heritage to the younger generation. More than 700 young Maldivians have already been trained as khaṭībs through five rounds of a government programme aimed at preparing young people for Islamic daʿwah and addressing shortages of imams and Friday preachers across the country's widely dispersed islands.

More than 300 young khaṭībs gathered for a national symposium held as part of the anniversary programme. President Muizzu urged them to combine knowledge with wisdom and to become future scholars, thinkers, leaders and effective communicators of Islam.

The government has also announced a nationwide initiative to place boards carrying Islamic reminders and adhkār along major roads on every inhabited island, as part of efforts to make the anniversary visible throughout the archipelago.

Nine Hijri Centuries of an Islamic Island Nation

The Maldives' Islamic heritage is particularly visible in its historic coral-stone mosques, whose construction represents a distinctive architectural tradition developed from the islands' maritime environment. Several of these mosques, together with manuscripts and other historical materials, preserve tangible evidence of centuries of Islamic life in the Indian Ocean.

The anniversary is therefore being presented not simply as a remembrance of an event in 548 AH, but as an opportunity to document, preserve and transmit nine Hijri centuries of Maldivian Islamic heritage.

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, reflecting on the anniversary, said that the country's nine centuries of Islamic history carry lessons for the present generation, recalling that Maldivians had maintained their Islamic identity despite the challenges they encountered through different periods of their history.

For the Maldives, the 900th Hijri anniversary represents a rare civilisational milestone: an island nation looking back on nine centuries in which Islam has remained at the heart of its collective identity, while launching new institutions intended to carry that heritage into the centuries ahead.