Today is the national day of Maldives. This is the day Maldives was saved from Portuguese by Muhammad Thakurufaanu, after Maldives was colonized by the Portuguese for a long time as a result of the treacherous acts by the Apostate King Hassan.
Speaking about the Jihaad made by Muhammad Thakurufaanu is easy. However, it will not be unfair to other national heroes to say that the jihaad made by Muhammad Thakurufaanu cannot be repeated by anyone else.
Firstly, it is the voyages made by a small boat (Kalhuoifummi) for around 6 years. It is hard to imagine to live on such a small boat those days. Cannot imagine how he attended to necessities like showing, sleeping, and eating.
Government has made a model boat of Kalhuoifummi and placed it in Male’. Who among us can spend 6 years at sea on this boat? Look at the boat and then answer. He spent day and night on this boat for 6 years. It is important to think about the guerilla warfare tactics used by Muhammad Thakurufaanu against the Portuguese.
He arrived Male’ on the day Portuguese threatened to kill anyone who refused to drink wine and renounce Islam. No one texted or messaged Muhammad Thakurufaanu to come to Male’ on that day. Such a communication is really impossible those days since no phone or such equipments are available. Its what Allah planned for Maldivians on that day.
After killing the Portuguese army and their Leader, and when Muhammed Thakurufaanu assumed the power of Maldives, he did not hurry to appoint his family members to top posts of the government. He appointed capable people to the posts. He wanted to develop the nation.
Maldivians were ready to bow down to Muhammad Thakurufaanu that day. Hearts were filled with gratitude. Maldivians were ready to support every decision of Muhammad Thakurufaanu. However he did not prioritize his personal needs on that day. He prioritized the needs of the people and the country. He did not start building a huge palace for himself. Instead he started taking measures to prevent Maldives from losing independence again.
Hence, it is important to research these events today. Chief of Staff Major General Ahmed Shiyam called to research the life of Muhammad Thakurufaanu on a national level. That is something that needs to be done.