Medhu Ziyaaraiy

Tomb of the Moroccan traveller who brought Islam to the Maldives in 1153

Medhu Ziyaaraiy is the small shrine and tomb of Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari, the North African traveller credited with bringing Islam to the Maldives in 1153. The compound is enclosed by a low coral-stone wall, just opposite Muliaage and a short walk from the Old Friday Mosque, and locals stop in for a quick prayer through the day.

Non-Muslims can view the exterior but are generally not admitted inside the shrine itself. The site is significant out of proportion to its size — without this event, the entire architectural and cultural history of the islands would have run a different course.

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A story
Islam reached the Maldives in 1153 when a Sunni traveller from the Maghreb — Abu al-Barakat al-Barbari according to local tradition, but the same story is told in Ibn Battuta's 14th-century travelogue with a different name — is said to have persuaded the last Buddhist king, Dhovemi, to convert. Every Maldivian sultan after him took the title Muhammad as a result.

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