The Maldives had its first settlement presumably before the fifth century BCE, which is based on historical evidence as well as legends. While the historical eras of the Maldives have been described through various archeological evidence and scriptures, it is also widely understood and accepted that there are still bits and pieces of the Maldivian history that remains elusive to this day.
However, it is known that the first settlers of the Maldives were not Muslims. There are some suggestions that the early settlers in the Maldives were probably Gujarati Indians who reached and settled in Sri Lanka first around 500 BCE.
The Mahavamsa records, which is a historical chronicle of Sri Lanka until the period of Mahasena of Anuradhapura, noted of a people from Sri Lanka emigrating to the Maldives. Other historians suggest that the Maldives may have been settled in even before this, during the Indus Valley civilization period which was between 3,300 to 1,300 BCE. Artifacts discovered in the Maldives also suggest the presence of Hinduism in the country prior to the Islamic period.
The Kitāb fi āthār Mīdhu al-qādimah (On the Ancient Ruins of Meedhoo) scribed by Allama Ahmed Shihabuddeen in the 17th century noted that the first settlers of the Maldives were known as Dheyvis and they came from Kalibanga, India.
Before Islam spread across the archipelago, it was Buddhism that was practised in the country during the third century BCE, which was during the period of Emperor Ashoka’s expansion expedition. The archeological remains discovered in the Maldives, nearly all of them, are from Buddhist stupas, which are hemispherical structures used to store relics and used by monks and nuns for meditation, and monasteries.
Contrary to what has been widely accepted or told as telltale, the emergence of Islam and its prominence in the island nation was not an abrupt event. In fact, Islamic roots started to seep into the Maldivian community through Arabian traders who began visiting the Maldives around the 12th century, which eventually culminated with the Buddhist king of the Maldives during the period, Dhovemi Kalaminja Siri Thiribuvana-aadiththa Maha Radun converting to Islam in 1153, or 1193 according to the copper plates discovered later.
Traditionally, the credit for Maldives’ conversion to Islam is given to Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari, and the origins and events surrounding the eventual conversion of Maldivian natives to Islam is a heavily contested topic.
Stories narrated by North African traveler Ibn Battuta, who himself scribed the tales based on anecdotes that were passed to him by native Maldives, spoke of how Barbari, a Moroccan, had been responsible for spreading Islam across the Maldivian islands which kicked off when he convinced the local king after subduing Ranna Maari, a demon from the Maldivian folklore that is said to have come from the ocean. However, this report has since been contested heavily, but does shed light on some vital aspects of the Maldivian culture back then.
One such notable aspect is the usage of Arabic language primarily in administration instead of Persian or Urdu languages that had been used in neighboring Muslim states.
There are also suggestions that contrary to the widely accepted historical detail that Barbari was a Moroccan, he might have, in fact, been a native of Barbera (hinted because of his name), which was a major trading port on the northwestern coast of Somalia.
Regardless of the historical details remaining vague to this date, what is known is that the Maldives has been a Muslim state since the 12th century.
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