Mohamed Naseer (Maalhos) on Amin
Tags: Maldives History, Presidents, People

History and lineage together define the importance of a man. A man without a strong lineage does not exist nor is relevant to the brutal, often misunderstood and misconstrued pages of common history. There is no real purpose to such a persons wealth or education and such men are easily forgotten regardless of their fortune at both. If having had the good fortune to acquire a good education and gained sufficient wealth one still fails to contribute in some way to history then perhaps wealth and education are not the only markers of greatness. A tribe lends their name to a man worthy as does a family. Often a great history is that of man and his family either by the strength of their actions or the courge of their convictions when faced with moments of adversity.

The Maldive elite understand this and have preserved their family history and certain moments that defined them quite thoroughly. Apart from few deviations into legends and fantastical tales that form the basis of all cultures and kingdoms in pre-islamic times, the Maldive royal family history is rich in intrigue and preserved well and is in fact on record as the only written History of the Maldives. At times it seems as if there existed no country before them and the indigenous peoples of Maldives are not recorded and in the rare instances that they are, they are only mentioned as either ‘subjects’ or ‘aborigines’. There were a few foreign visitors and unknown men who intrude on the history of the elite and they too, unless well known elsewhere remain a mystery. This is not to say that they don’t pose an interesting chapter in the recorded history should they be mentioned by their presence. If they happen to exert some sort of influence on the rulers of Maldives then they are there by name and deed. For a long time in the early Maritime history of many nations it was believed that it was bad luck to approach fight or invade the Maldives Islands. The islands remained relatively unknown.

Travelers have always sought the appeasement of Maldive rulers when under their patronage. For their good behavior they too are sometimes mentioned mostly only by their deeds. Take the man who is buried at Medhu Ziyaaraiy next to the former Presidential Residence (Muleeage). We are helpless to make out anything more of this man other than the fact that he appeared at a turning point in our history. We know so little of him (his family or where he came from) that he eventually ends up being little more than a footnote in recent History books. Do we know for sure that it is indeed this man that the copper plates speak of? Who lived and died and indeed was buried at Medhu Ziyaarai? Had we known more of his lineage we could have written his story better. Right now he is only known as ‘the scholar who converted the Maldivian Sultan to Islam’ and by doing so he was no more than a mere Muslim missionary from Africa or Yemen.

We know that it was from this point in 1153AD that Islam became the state religion and subsequently that of its people. No small feat for a man so relatively unknown. We havent been able to investigate any more from the text. Only that he was perhaps called ‘Barbary’ or ‘Thabreyzee’. The confirmation of either is left unanswered due to errors in translation and the vague way in which his presence has been inscribed by royal historians.

Is it so strange that presidents and politicians are under such scrutiny in our time? Literature on the Maldives has always favored scandals, murders and marriages found in the history of sultans, kings and scholars. We are a nation without much to offer other than the fortunes of the people who have led us. Their diplomacy, vices, virtue and sometimes brutality has always been and continues to be the higher point of written literature and indeed sometimes even the folklore of the Maldives Islands. Its valid to note that among these men and women only a few come across as truly remarkable individuals. But maybe that is the nature of remarkable people. We can write about them with more certainty.

We should understand that the Maldive elite have also been fairly successful in hiding their vices, shifting blame to others when necessary. For exactly this reason some events feature larger than others and it is better for recorded history that these be told truthfully as well. The History that came before Thabreyzee is shrouded in such mystery that it ends up being nothing more than small threads in part of the tapestry. Interesting at times and yet the overall design gives a better clue. If historians were to decide that the medieval age of Maldives is ultimately tied to that of its neighbors rather than stand out by itself we cannot hold them at fault. Perhaps our written history is of little relevance before the Portuguese occupation and further back before that to the later periods of the Chera Dynasty of the Malabar Coast, Southwestern India.

This essay* is about more modern times. It is about three Presidents who formed the early Republic and became the founding fathers of modern Maldives. It was their seemingly small decisions (both domestic and diplomatic) which shaped the country to what it is now. They defined the modern ideas of the state. Amin and Nasir took over when the Sultanate was abolished in 1968 and progressively planned the businesses, commerce, the education of the people and the future of others who would most probably follow them as thinkers, businessmen and leaders. We begin with the formation of the first Republic of Maldives, with all its ideas invested on the controversial man who would become the first President of the Republic of Maldives and we end it with two men who featured even larger in global, national and regional politics.

Sultan Abdul Majeed (monarch and reformer) was the Sultan of Maldives before the Sultanate was suspended for the first time in 1952 . He was recognised as a socio-economic reformer and father of modern Maldives. He died in Colombo (Sri Lanka). Majeed was succeeded by President Mohamed Amin Didi.

President Mohamed Amin , the first President of the Maldives (1953) traced his lineage to Hurage. From his fathers side and from his maternal grandmothers side. This was a family of beyfulhun (royals and elite) who came from the Island of Hura in Male’ atoll. Their antecedents are traced back to Don Maduru Fadi Kaleyfaanu. Don Madurus father is said to be a certain French Naval officer by the name of Don Luis. President Ibrahim Nasir who came to power after him also traced his lineage to the same family from his mothers side. His father was from Velanage. The Velanage lineage leads to Raa atoll Fasmandhoo (the island is uninhabited now). Nasirs’ anscestry is traced back to Fasmandhoo Hassan Bodu Hakuraa Thakurufaanu. It is said that Hassan Hakuraa Thakurufaans’ father was a Malabar from the Indian Malabar coast who went by the name of Koladi Sayyid Mohamed Holi Nahara. His anscestry belonged to that of Yemen, to the Ba’Alawi Sayyid sons of Hadhramaut. The diaspora of these Sayyid tribes from Hadhramaut is well documented much like that of the Berbers and the Habashi people descended from the Bantu who came from the Horn of Africa to the Indian Ocean around the same time. The third President of the Republic Al-Ustaz Maumoon Abdul Gayoom traces his anscestry to such a Habshi descendent Babur Naib (Al Naib Mohamed al Habashi) whose father is said to have been Babur Salim, a shipwrecked slave from Zanzibar.

France exerted colonial authority over Algeria during 1830, Tunisia (1881), Madagascar (1882), Morocco (1912), Syria (1921) and in Indian Subcontinet in Podicherry long before that. The French governor in India Joseph-François Dupleix by the request of Muleege Dom Hassan Manik (known to us as Dhon Bandaarain, regent and freedom fighter) deployed a military guard at the capital Male’ to deter the intests of Ali Raja of Cannanore during 1753. Raja had recently occupied the Maldives and it was only through the efforts of Dhon Bandaarain that power was wrested back. The French then helped keep Ali Raja’s forces in check.

Hura is an island founded in North Male’ Atoll. It’s on the eastern edge of Male’ atoll and any travels further East lead out of Maldives waters. To the very North East in Male’ atoll you find Dhiffushi Muli. A long contigous reef circles Muli. After it and after a wide channel comes Thulusdhoo and after Thulusdhoo and another deep channel we come to Hura. Today along the same basin as Hura, we find Kanifinolhu Resort, Kuda Hura Resort, Kanu oiy Hura Resort and after the next crossing we come to Himmafushi. There are no other islands nearby to the West.

Fasmandhoo is a deserted island found in North Maalhosmadulu. Its an unremarkable island with no defining features and the closest community found near it is at the island of Madduvari. This is the North West inner basin of the atoll. To the west is the island of Kukulhudhufaaru and in the same lagoon is Ufulandhoo. Slightly to the south west of Fasmandhoo is Kottafaru and nearby is Kothaafaru. There is no island near to the east of Fasmandhoo. Meedhoo is to the east of Ufulandhoo. It is said that when Fasmandhoo was deserted it’s people moved to Madduvari.

The Malabar Coast was founded on the Indian Continent. India at the time was ruled by several loose fiefdoms constantly at odds with each other. After the breakup of the Chera Kingdom local chieftians claimed Independence notably in Kochi, Calicut, Kannur and ‘Andhuroth’. French Pondicherri, Madrasi and Karikali is to the east. Malabari Coast is also called the Holhikara (Dutch). Goa is to the North of Malabar. Former Kannur or Cannanur is now Karnatika. The Malabar coast is now known as Kerela. ‘Beydhalhi’** is found in Kerela.

Hadhramaut is found in Eastern Yemen, South Arabia. The entire coast of the Southenmost Arabia was until recently known by this name. The etymology of the name is controversial since its literal meaning is ‘death has come’. To the east is Oman and between both states is the Arabian Gulf and to the west of Yemen is the Red Sea.

Habsh or Habasha (Habeshistan) is a region in the Horn of Africa now known as Ethiopia. Is it a landlocked region which is on the Peninsular of Horn of Africa and lies along the southern side of the Red Sea. To the east of Ethiopia lies Somalia, to the south Kenya and to the west lies Sudan. Djibouti is to the North east. The capital is Addis Ababa.

The people of Habesha went through several periods of diaspora and their ethnicities are found in India (Bantu descendents) along the western and the southern coasts and in Karachi, Pakistan. Habshi people known as Siddis (not to be confused with Seedi in the Maldives) are primarily Muslims although some are Hindus and some belong to Catholic groups.

The Zanzibar archipelago is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania located on the East Coast of Africa, south of the Somali sea. Nearby to the North is Dar Es Salaam and then the Mombasan Coast of Kenya. Tanzania is locked with Kenya, Uganda and to the West Congo, Bunrundi and Rwanda. To the South West is Zambia and Malawi and Mozambique lies to the North.

Mohamed Amin Didi was born July 20, 1910 (13 Rajab 1328) on a Thursday. He was born at Henveiru Athireege. His spent his childhood at his birthhome with his father Athireege Ahmed Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaanu and mother Roanuge Aishath Didi. He was tutored by Buchaa Kalhuhutthu and Sheikh Hussein Raha and Sheikh Malim Moosa Kaleyfaanu before leaving to Ceylon to study at Saint Josephs College and then Saint Johns College, Colombo during 1920. He then spent a year at the famed Aligar University, India (1928) before returning to the Maldives the following year. On returning to the Maldives with the help of his father he held the positions of Chief Customs Officer, then the head of the Maldives Post Office before finally taking on the posts of Minister of Trade and consequently the post of Minister of Finance. He was also active politically, becoming the leader of the first political party in the Maldives. He was instrumental in re-drafting the modern Constitution of the Maldives and served as a member of Parliament. Mohamed Amin was also briefly the Principal of the prestigious all-boys Majeediyya School (1946–53). He was the first President of the Maldives and his term ran from January 1st 1953, to August 21st of the same year. His political program for the country included the inclusion of women in the government, universal suffrage, advancement of education in the country and nationalising the fishing and exports industry and proposing a nationwide tobacco ban. This last proposal made him unpopular among the then elite. He further lost public support when parts of the South broke away from the Republic with the help of the British while Amin Didi was away seeking medical attention in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The people appointed Velaanage Ibrahim Didi as head of State and on Amin Didi’s return he was taken to Dhoonidhoo and imprisoned there.

It was learnt afterwards that during his imprisonment he was secretly exchanging letters between Ibrahim Hilmy Didi to reinstate the monarchy with Ibrahim Didi as King and himself as Prime Minister. Soon news reached Male’ that Amin Didi was attempting to seize power by coming to Male’. When he eventually did there was a mob incited against him ready to publicly lynch him. President Amin Didi was ambushed and seriously wounded and he died soon afterwards having never fully recovered from his wounds. President Amin Didi died at Vihamanaafushi (Kurumba Village) on January 19, 1954.

President Mohamed Amin belonged to the House of Hurage. For a long period in the 21st century history the Hurage descendents have served as statesmen, diplomats and government officials. Amins’ granddaugther, Dr.Farahnaz Faisal is currently High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and his grandson Ameen Faisal has held the post of Defence Minister. The Hurage House has branched to six influential houses in the Capital Male’ including Mulige, Maandhooge, Henveiruge, Eggamuge, Kakaage and Athireege. President Mohamed Amin was from Athireege family.

The Eastern reef edge of Male’ atoll along the outer waters of Muli was a trecherous route for many ships navigating across the Maldives. At a time when there were few charts to go on, a shipwreck at the Hura reef forced its crew which included a French naval officer Don Louis to come ashore at the island. Its not clear as to how many survived and who stayed behind at Hura but it is narrated by Mohamed Amin that Don Louis married an unknown woman from the island and had one son Don Maruduru Fadi Kaleyfaanu, Amins’ anscestor. Fadi Kaleyfaanu was orphaned sometime in his youth and he came to Male’, built Athireege and resided there. He was eventually included in inner royal circles. He married twice, once to a woman in Hura and secondly to a woman from Ari Atoll Fenfushi. He had two sons with the Hura wife, Don Hussain and Don Ibrahim. With the Fensfushi wife he had a son Don Ali.

Ibrahim Edhuru Thakurufaan, Hussain Dhaharadha Thakurufaan, Kaka Don Ali Maafaiy Thakurufaanu were the three sons of Hura Don Maruduru Fadi Kaleyfaanu.

Ibrahim Edhuru Thakurufaan was entrusted with the training of the sipain at the time. By all accounts he was the Commander in Chief of the sipain and entrusted with the training camps and the armory. Ibrahim Edhuru Thakurufaan had a son Ali Mureed Thakurufaan.

Ali Bodu Mureed Thakurufaan was second in command to his father. This was probably during the time of the Dhiyamigili Dynasty and both father and son were indespensable to the Sultan. Ali Mureed Thakurufaan had three prominent sons. Hussein Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan, Mohamed Kudamureed Thakurufaan and Ibrahim Faamladheyri Thakurufaan. The Athireege family continued with Hussein Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan and Mohamed Kudamureed Thakurufaan.

Mohamed Kudamureed Thakurufaan was married to Muli Samfaa Manike. Their daughters were Gasdhoshuge Amina Manikfaan and Aisha Manikfaan. Kuda Mureed Thakurufaan died in India, Sultan Haji Bandaarain having banished him from Male’, he subsequently fled the islands. His brothers Hussein Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan and Ibrahim Faamladheyri Thakaurufaan also accompanied him. Amina Manikfaan had a daughter Aisha Manikfaan. She was married to Addu Meedhoo Mohamed Faamladheyri Manikfaan. They had a son Thodduge Ali Manik. He was married to Fathima Didi, daughter of Moosa Didi who was the son of Hussein Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan. Thodduge Ali Manik and Fathima Didi had a son, Eggamuge Hassan Famuladheyri Kilegefaan.

Ibrahim Faamuladheyri Thakurufaan had two daughters. Maandhooge Samfa Manike and Maandhooge Amina Didi. Amina Didi was married to Prince Hassan Nooradeen I son of Sultan Dhonbandaarain, and Mandhooge became their residential palace.

Hussain Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan was the direct ancestor and benefactor of the Athireege House. He was first known by the Kakaa honorific and then Dhoshimeynaa. He survived his brothers in India, the three having fled the Maldives under threat of violence, having been accused of trying to overthrow Haji Bandaarain — who had banished them to the islands. He returned to the Maldives during the reign of Muizudeen Kalhu Bandaarain and married the widow of Haji Bandaarain Aisha Manikefaan. They had eight children. His son Don Ahmed Didi Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaanu inherited Athireege.

Don Ahmed Didi first married Noomara Ganduvaru Doshi Goma who was the daughter of Prince Mueenudin Bandaarain, son of Hassan Nooradeen I. Don Ahmed Didi became quite powerful politically during the reign on Mueenudin Bandaarain and again that of Muskulhi Bandaarain.

Mueenuddin Bandaarain had two wives, one Athireege Hadija Didi sister of Don Ahmed Didi she was the mother of Muskulhi Bandaarain.

Don Ahmed Didi and Naifaruge Mariyam Manike married and they had a son Galolhuge Alikilegefaanu. Don Ahmed Didi later Sultan Ahmed Didi allowed Captain James Moresby of the East India Company to draw up the first maritime Map of Maldives. The maps drawn by Moresby of the Maldives (1834- 1836) were the first modern survey of the country and became the standard charts for decades afterwards.

Galolhuge Ali Kilegefaan (Don Ahmed Didi’s Ali Didi) was a rich businessman. He was Chief Treasurer (bandeyri) during the reign of Muskulhi Bandaarain. He resigned his post when the Sultan passed a decree allowing for the business of Borah merchants in the Maldives. Not wanting to be diminished at his post+ he left the Maldives with his family and moved to Ceylon(Galle) and died there later.

Ali Dhosimeynaa Kilegefaanu had four wives. Ibrahim Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaanu of Athirige was the son Mariyam Manike (Daughter of Naifaru Dheenu Kaleyfaanu). Galolhuge Mohamed Didi was the son of Mulige Don Didi.

Ibrahim Dhoshimeyna Kilegefaanu (Athireege/Galolhuge Ibrahim Didi) grand vizier to the Sultan first married Kakage Mariyam Lhadidi. They had a son Ahmed Didi (Athirige Ahmed Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan) who passed away. He then married Eggamuge Don Didi and they had Sultan Abdul Majeed (Rannabandeyri Kilegefaan), Athirige Abdul Hameed Didi and Thuthu Don Didi.

Athireege Ahmed Didi also known as Athireege Ahmed Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan ( he was the son of Ibrahim Dhoshimeynaa Kilegefaan and Kakage Mariyam Lhadhdidi) was Al Amir Mohamed Amins father. He was the Head of Customs and the Post Office and Private Secretary to the Radun( Sultan). He was also the father of Mariyam Amin.

Mohamed Amin ( President and Head of State) was the son Athireege Ahmed Didi and Roanuge Aishath Didi. Roanuge Aisha Didi’s father was Roanuge Ibrahim Didi and her mother was Galolhuge Amina Didi daughter of Galolhuge Ali Kilegefaanu.

Roanuge Ibrahim Didi was the son of Roanuge Moosa Didi, son of Roanuge Bodu Didi, son of Roanu Hassan Manikufaanu, son of Roanu Kaidhaafaanu, daughter of Roanu Aisha faanu, daughter of Roanu Mohamed Thakurufaan.

His mother was Bodugaluge Amina Didi, daughter of Mava Hussain Didi, son of Mohamed Dhaharada Manikfaanu, son of Fandiaru Aisha Manikefaanu, daughter of Hadhunmathi Gan Mahmud Rahdhebai’s A’naib Hussain Afeefdin.

Mohamed Amin’s father and mother were cousins on their father’s side.

President Mohamed Amin first married Fathimath Saeed and then to Amina Didi, daugther of Faamladheyrige Hassan Faamudheyri Kilegefaan. He married a third time to Zubeidha Mohamed Didi of Ali Rasgefaanu Ganduvaru.

He had three children from the first marriage to Fathimath Saeed of whom only Ameena survived.