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ADVENT OF ISLAM
The most significant event in the early history of the territory was the
complete religious conversion brought over by the adoption of the entire
population to Islamic faith. The current tradition in all the islands say that
it was brought about by an Arab Saint named Ubadidullah who reached Amini in
Hejira 41 (AD.663). Ubaidullah, the grand son of Siddique-ul-Akbar, had a dream
while praying at a mosque in Medina to proceed to Jiddan and from there by ocean
to distant lands to spread the message of Islam. He proceeded from Jiddah but
his vessel capsized due to a storm. Saint Ubaidullah drifted on a plank and
reached Amini. The Saint started preaching there but met with general
opposition. He could get a female covert from the Pondambelli family with whom
he proceeded to Andrott and converted the inhabitants there. Then he went to
Kavaratti
and Agatti
and returned once again to Amini in A.H-44 (A.D. 666). He succeed
this time in converting the entire population to Islam. He then proceeded to
Kalpeni converting the inhabitants there and finally returned to Andrott
where he remained till the end of his life. He died at Andrott
and his grave is
enshrined there in a mosque at Andrott with deep veneration. All the Juma
Mosques in the Islands of Amini,
Kalpeni,
Agatti,
Kavaratti
(Headquarters), are believed to
have been founded by the saint. As the group lies directly in the path of
Arab trade between the Red Sea and Malabar, the ultimate conversion of the
inhabitants to Islam was a probability, and saint Ubaidullah must have been
instrumental for such a conversion.
The conversion of the king of Maldives, Siri Bavanditta who assumed the name
of Sultan Muhammad took place in the year AD.1153, when Ibn Batuta visited the
area in AD.1346, he found that all the inhabitants in Mulook (Minicoy) were
devout Muslims. It can be assumed that the people of Minicoy
had embraced Islam
sometime between 12th and 13th century AD. According to Sir.W.Robinson, the
conversion to the new faith in other islands took place sometime in the 16th
century.
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