Editing Maldives (section)

===Islamic period===
{{See also|History of the Maldives#Islamic Period|Islam in Maldives|List of Maldivian monarchs|Sultanate of Maldives}}
The importance of the Arabs as traders in the Indian Ocean by the 12th century may partly explain why the last Buddhist king of the Maldives, [[Dhovemi of the Maldives|Dhovemi]], converted to Islam in the year 1153 (or 1193). Adopting the Muslim title of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, he initiated a series of six Islamic dynasties that lasted until 1932 when the [[Sultanate of Maldives|sultanate]] became elective. The formal title of the sultan up to 1965 was, ''Sultan of Land and Sea, Lord of the twelve-thousand islands and Sultan of the Maldives'' which came with the style ''[[Highness]]''.

A Moroccan traveller named Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari is traditionally cited for this conversion.<ref name=":2" /> According to the story told to [[Ibn Battutah]], a mosque was built with the inscription: 'The Sultan Ahmad Shanurazah accepted Islam at the hand of Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari.'<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Battutah |first=Ibn |title=The Travels of Ibn Battutah |date=2002 |publisher=Picador |isbn=9780330418799 |location=London |pages=235–236, 320}}</ref><ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF2spo9BKacC The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveller of the Fourteenth Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412233846/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZF2spo9BKacC |date=12 April 2016 }}''</ref> Some scholars have suggested the possibility of Ibn Battuta misreading Maldive texts, and having a bias towards the North African, Maghrebi narrative of this Shaykh, instead of the Persian origins account that was known as well at the time.<ref>{{Citation |last=Honchell |first=Stephanie |title=Sufis, Sea Monsters, and Miraculous Circumcisions: Comparative Conversion Narratives and Popular Memories of Islamization |page=5 |year=2018 |url=https://humanities.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/content_migration/humanities_uct_ac_za/309/files/Paper%2520-%2520Sufis%2520Sea%2520Monsters%2520and%2520Miraculous%2520Circumcisions.pdf |publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] and the [[University of Cape Town]] |quote=In reference to Ibn Battuta's Moroccan theory of this figure, citation 8 of this text mentions, that other accounts identify Yusuf Al Barbari as East African or Persian. But as a fellow Maghribi, Ibn Battuta likely felt partial to the Moroccan version. |access-date=16 May 2024 |archive-date=16 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516185324/https://humanities.uct.ac.za/sites/default/files/content_migration/humanities_uct_ac_za/309/files/Paper%2520-%2520Sufis%2520Sea%2520Monsters%2520and%2520Miraculous%2520Circumcisions.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Others have it that he may have been from the Persian town of [[Tabriz]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Paul, Ludwig |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuKN47W68SkC&pg=PA31 |title=Persian Origins: Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian : Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2003 |isbn=978-3-447-04731-9 |page=31 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915151831/https://books.google.com/books?id=DuKN47W68SkC&pg=PA31 |archive-date=15 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> This interpretation, held by the more reliable local historical chronicles, Raadavalhi and Taarikh,<ref name="Visweswaran2011">{{cite book|author=Kamala Visweswaran|title=Perspectives on Modern South Asia: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-EYXNnvMugC&q=candles+ships+jinn&pg=PA164|date=6 May 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-0062-5|pages=164–|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503032121/https://books.google.com/books?id=m-EYXNnvMugC&q=candles+ships+jinn&pg=PA164|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="sw">{{cite book|author=Ishtiaq Ahmed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jt8rBgAAQBAJ&q=islam+outside+the+arab+world+maldives&pg=PA250|title=Islam Outside the Arab World|year=2002|isbn=9780253022608|editor=Ingvar Svanberg|page=250| publisher=Routledge |editor2=David Westerlund|access-date=2 October 2020|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503032057/https://books.google.com/books?id=Jt8rBgAAQBAJ&q=islam+outside+the+arab+world+maldives&pg=PA250|url-status=live}}</ref> is that Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari was Abdul Barakat Yusuf Shams ud-Dīn at-Tabrīzī, also locally known as Tabrīzugefānu.<ref>[[HCP Bell]], ''The Máldive Islands. Monograph on the History, Archæology, and Epigraphy'' with W. L. De Silva, Colombo 1940</ref> In the Arabic script the words al-Barbari and al-Tabrizi are very much alike, since at the time, Arabic had several consonants that looked identical and could only be differentiated by overall context (this has since changed by the addition of dots above or below letters to clarify pronunciation – For example, the letter "B" in modern Arabic has a dot below, whereas the letter "T" looks identical except there are two dots above it). "ٮوسڡ الٮٮرٮرى" could be read as "Yusuf at-Tabrizi" or "Yusuf al-Barbari".<ref>{{cite book|last=Paul |first= Ludwig|title=Persian Origins--: Early Judaeo-Persian and the Emergence of New Persian: Collected Papers of the Symposium, Göttingen 1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuKN47W68SkC&pg=PA31|year=2003|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-04731-9|page=31|access-date=30 April 2017|archive-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915151831/https://books.google.com/books?id=DuKN47W68SkC&pg=PA31|url-status=live}}</ref>

The venerated tomb of the scholar now stands on the grounds of [[Muliaage#Medhu Ziyaaraiy|Medhu Ziyaaraiy]], across the street from the Friday Mosque, or [[Malé Friday Mosque|Hukuru Miskiy]], in Malé. Originally built in 1153 and re-built in 1658,<ref name="Yoosuf">{{Cite web |last=Yoosuf |first=Muawwaz |date=2020-02-28 |title=Malé Friday Mosque |url=https://coralstonemosques.com/male-friday-mosque/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Coral Stone Mosques of Maldives |language=en-US}}</ref> this is one of the oldest surviving mosques in the Maldives. Following the Islamic concept that before Islam there was the time of [[Jahiliyyah|Jahiliya]] (ignorance), in the history books used by Maldivians the [[#Introduction of Islam|introduction of Islam]] at the end of the 12th century is considered the cornerstone of the country's history. Nonetheless, the cultural influence of Buddhism remains, a reality directly experienced by Ibn Battuta during his nine months there sometime between 1341 and 1345, serving as a chief judge and marrying into the royal family of [[Omar I of the Maldives|Omar I]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Buchan |first=James |date=21 December 2002 |editor-last=Mackintosh-Smith |editor-first=Tim |title=The Travels of Ibn Battutah |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/dec/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207085518/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/dec/21/featuresreviews.guardianreview2 |archive-date=7 December 2017 |access-date=6 December 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]] |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> For he became embroiled in local politics and left when his strict judgments in the laissez-faire island kingdom began to chafe with its rulers. In particular, he was angered at the local women going about with no clothing above the waist— a cultural epithet of the region at the time- was seen as a violation of Middle Eastern Islamic rules of modesty—and the locals taking no notice when he complained.<ref>Jerry Bently, ''Old World Encounters Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 126''.</ref>

Compared to the other areas of South Asia, the conversion of the Maldives to Islam happened relatively late. The Maldives remained a Buddhist kingdom for another 500 years. Arabic became the prime language of administration (instead of Persian and Urdu), and the [[Maliki]] school of jurisprudence was introduced, both hinting at direct contact with the core of the Arab world.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

Middle Eastern seafarers had just begun to take over the Indian Ocean trade routes in the 10th century and found the Maldives to be an important link in those routes as the first landfall for traders from [[Basra]] sailing to Southeast Asia. Trade involved mainly [[cowrie shells]]—widely used as a form of currency throughout Asia and parts of the [[East Africa]]n coast—and coir fibre. The [[Bengal Sultanate]], where cowrie shells were used as legal tender, was one of the principal trading partners of the Maldives. The Bengal–Maldives cowry shell trade was the largest shell currency trade network in history.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boomgaard |first=P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXphAAAAQBAJ |title=Linking Destinies: Trade, Towns and Kin in Asian History |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004253995 |access-date=23 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106131821/https://books.google.com/books?id=TXphAAAAQBAJ |archive-date=6 January 2017 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The other essential product of the Maldives was [[coir]], the fibre of the dried [[coconut]] [[husk]], resistant to saltwater. It stitched together and rigged the [[dhow]]s that plied the Indian Ocean. Maldivian coir was exported to [[Sindh]], [[China]], [[Yemen]], and the [[Persian Gulf]].