INDEPENDENT ISLAMIC STATES

Maldives

Official name: Republic of Maldives (MV)

Capital city  : Male

Important Cities: 19 atolls and 1 administrative region; Alifu, Baa, Dhaalu, Faafu, Gaafu Alifu, Gaafu Dhaalu, Gnaviyani, Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Kaafu, Laamu, Lhaviyani, Maale, Meemu, Noonu, Raa, Seenu, Shaviyani, Thaa, Vaavu

Area: 300 km²

Population        : 396,334 (2021)[1]
Average Human Lifespan: 65 years

Ethnicity: South Indians, Sinhalese, Arabs.
Language: Maldivian Dhivehi (Sinhala dialect), English.

Religion: All of its people are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi'i sect.

Geography: South Asia, atoll group in the Indian Ocean, south of India.
Government: Presidential Republic. The national assembly consists of forty-eight members, eight of whom are appointed by the president. There are many mosques on the inhabited islands of the country, more than thirty of which are in Male, where Islamic law rules.

History: The Maldives, whose name is probably derived from Sanskrit, is called Divehi Râjje in the language of the indigenous people known as Divehis. The name of the region is recorded in Arabic sources as Dîbâ Mahal,   Zîbete'l-Mehel, al-Dîbe, Juzur al-Zîb.

     Maldives, which is understood to have been a settlement since the 5th century BC, remained under the influence of Hinduism and especially Buddhism until the Islamic period and many temples were built here. Although it is not clear when Islam entered the Maldives, it is estimated that it came to the region through Muslim merchants and sailors in the early centuries. Islam began to spread widely in the Maldives from the 7th century onwards. According to Qâdî Hasan Tâceddin, who wrote a work on the Maldives, the Buddhist king of the Maldives became a Muslim on 12 Rebîülâhir 548 (7 July 1153) through Sheikh Yusuf Shams al-Din al-Tabrîzî from Tabriz and took the name of Muhammad al-Âdil Siri Bavanaditta Maha Radun. Afterwards, Islam started to spread in the region as a result of the activities of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil. Ibn Battûta, who visited the Maldives in 1343-1346, states that the Buddhist king became a Muslim and took the name Ahmed through Abû al-Barakât al-Barberî, a Moor belonging to the Maliki sect, and that this is recorded in an inscription in the mosque built by Abû al-Barakât. Today, it is generally accepted that Islam spread in the region thanks to Shaykh Abū al-Barakāt al-Barberī, and that he was

Ibn Battûta, who stayed in the Maldives for a year and a half, got married here and was appointed as a qadi, devotes a large space to the Maldives, which he describes as 'one of the most interesting places in the world', records that all of its people are Muslims, pious, well-behaved and honest, that there are many mosques in the islands, and gives information about the customs and traditions of the region, commercial traditions, women, especially the ruler of the period, Khadija Sultan. The 5th century Arab mariner Ibn Mâjid and his successor Sulayman b. Ahmad al-  

     Mehrî also mentions the Maldives in his works and gives useful information especially for sailors.

     The Portuguese attacked the Maldives again in 1625, but were repelled by Sultan Muhammad Imad al-Din 1620-1648). The Maldives was sometimes subjected to other attacks from the neighbourhood. During the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Iskander b. Muhammad, one of the longest reigning monarchs, who gave importance to the development of education, defence and trade, 1648-1687  pirates from South India raided the islands, but were defeated by Sultan Ibrahim. In 1752-53, the Malabar attacked Male. They destroyed the sultanate palace and expelled Sultan Muhammad al-Mukarrem Imâduddin from the islands. As a result of their struggle under the command of Ghazi Hasan Izzeddin, the Maldivians, with the help of the French, succeeded in expelling the Malawians from the country.

17. In 1887, the Maidivis officially accepted the protection of the Netherlands, which dominated Ceylon in 1796, and then of England, which captured Ceylon in 1796. In 1932 a democratic constitution came into force, but the sultanate continued until the proclamation of the republic in 1953 under Mohammed Amin Dīdī. After the overthrow and assassination of President Emin Dîdî, who had written many works in the fields of history and biography, the sultanate was restored in 1954. In Maldives, which became fully independent from Britain in July 1965, the republic was re-declared with a referendum held in 1968 and Ibrahim Nasser became the president. 29 March 1976, when the British, who continued to use the base in Gan Island until 1976, left the Maldivian territory, was declared independence day.

Maldivian, which has been a member of the United Nations since 1965 and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation since 1976, joined the British Commonwealth of Nations in 1982.[2]

Islamisation in the country: Maidivs, which were understood to be completely Muslim in the XIIIth century, remained under Portuguese occupation between 1558-1573. Sultan Ali b. Abdurrahman, who was killed during the battle with the Portuguese (1558), went down in Maldivian history with the title of 'al-Shahid'. The islands were placed under the rule of Adiri, the commander of the Portuguese forces. Maldivian Muslims showed a very effective resistance against the Portuguese occupation under the leadership of Muhammad al-Khatîb Takurufânu al-Utîmî and his brothers Ali al-Khatîb and Hasan al-Khatîb. Ali al-Khatîb was killed during these struggles. In 1573, the Portuguese were expelled from the islands and Muhammad Takurufânu was declared sultan. Under the rule of Muhammad Takurufânu (1573-1585), who was known as 'al-Kabir' as a just and merciful sultan, the Maldives experienced one of its most peaceful periods. However, the decline in the field of religious sciences, which had started some time ago, became especially evident during the Portuguese invasion of the Maldives, and there were almost no scholars left to teach the Mālikī sect, which was widespread in the islands. Meanwhile, the Maldivian scholar Muhammad Jamāl al-Dīn al-Mahallī, who studied Shafi'i jurisprudence in Hadramawt, returned to his country and was appointed qadi by Sultan Muhammad Takurufānu. With his efforts, the Shafi'i madhhab replaced the Mālikī madhhab in legal practices in the islands and this madhhab began to spread among the people.[3]

Economy: The economy of the Maldives is largely dependent on the export of seafood and the import of industrial products. Although the country has a foreign trade volume of 1.3 billion dollars, its economy had a foreign trade deficit of approximately 912 million dollars in 2020 due to the fact that most of the production in the country consists of seafood production. In 2020, the country ranked 174th in the world with exports of 212 million USD and Turkey ranked 8th with a 2% share in imports. In 2020, the most important products in the country's exports are fish and fish products, and the most important products in imports are petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals; telephone devices, other devices for receiving or transmitting sound, image or other information; furniture and their parts and parts and medicines prepared for use in treatment or protection.[4]

Export Products: Fish, clothing;

Export Partners: US, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka.
Import Products  : Consumer goods, investment goods, petroleum products; various machinery, mineral fuels, chemicals.

Import Partners: Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Canada.

Currency: Rufiyaa (MVR)

National Income per Capita: USD 11,887[5]

Industry: Fish products, tourism, ship and yacht building, coconut products, clothing,  

                    wicker, rope, handicrafts, coral and sand mining
Energy: Electricity production: 149.9 million kWh (2004);

Transport:Port: Gan, Male;

Airfields: 5

Education: Data for the total population aged 15 and over: 97.2

Affiliated international organisations and institutions: (FAO), G-77, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), (ILO), (IMF),  (INTERPOL), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation[6] (OIC), (UN), (UNESCO), (WHO), (WTO)

Geographical Location: Maldives, in the north of the Indian Ocean, about 650 km. southwest of the island of Ceylon. consists of about 2000 large and small islands.

     The tops of the islands are flattened and their heights are low. The highest point of the country is only 24 metres (on the island of Wilingili). In the Maldives, where the equatorial climate type prevails, the temperature remains almost the same in summer and winter (around 30° C). Monsoons blowing from the southwest bring rainfall in May-August. The islands have a lush vegetation of tropical shrubs, including coconut and bread trees.

     In general, only about 200 of the islands are inhabited by Sinhalese, Tamils and a small number of Arabs, whose ancestors came from Ceylon. .

[1]   www.ticaret.gov.tr(October-2021 Access)

[2]  Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.

[3]  Encyclopaedia of Islam, TDV.

[4]   www.ticaret.gov.tr(October-2021 Access)

[5]   www.ticaret.gov.tr(October-2021 Access)

[6]   www.oic-oci.org.