The Story of the Sea Monster, a Muslim Merchant and the Conversion to Islam

The fourth month of the Hijri Calendar is Rabiʽ al-Akhir. The first day of this month is very special to the islanders of Maldives as it is marked as the day the nation embraced the holy region of Islam. Historians indicate that the conversion took place in 1153 AD. The story behind the conversion is astonishing and remains as one of the most popular local folklore up until this day. In celebrating the occasion, I will try to give you a brief narrative of it.

Long, long, ago, when our islanders were devotees of Buddhism, we were haunted by the presence of a notorious sea monster. Fear was always on their minds. The only thing that seemed to have kept this monster from rampaging was the sacrifice of a virgin girl on the last day of every month. Thus, a lot is drawn amongst the girls in the community by the authority of the King every month. The unfortunate ones who get picked will be sent off to spend the night in a temple to await her demise. The monster is said to come overnight and the girl will always be found dead in the morning. Chilling, right?

In every story, there is a hero. So does this one. Thus enters the Muslim Merchant, Abul Barakat Yoosuf Al Barbary. It is said that this man was a wealthy merchant passing through the country at that time. He had memorized the entire Holy Quran and was a well-known exorcist. He bravely took place of an innocent girl in disguise one night as he believed the sea monster to be a Djinn trying to lead people astray. Upon his arrival to the temple, he started reciting versus of the Holy Quran in order to ‘purify’ the place. The ‘sea monster’ who arrived in all its glory was no match the powerful versus of Holy Quran which as a result led to its caption. An additional detail I personally loved hearing when I was a child was that the ‘Rannamaari’ had shrunk to the size of an ant which was put into bottle by our hero which could never be opened again.

Following the win of Abul Barakat Yoosuf Al Barbary, the King and the whole nation converted their faith.

The end.