Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam

Who is Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam?

Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam was a Maldivian noble from the island of Utheemu in Thiladhummathi Atoll who became the national hero of the Maldives for ending fifteen years of Portuguese occupation. After the Portuguese seized Male and killed Sultan Ali VI in 1558, they ruled the islands harshly, and the royal chronicles describe a period when "the sea grew red with Maldivian blood." Thakurufaanu fled with his brothers Ali and Hasan to Minicoy in the Laccadive Archipelago, where they built a warship named Kalhuoffummi and organized a guerrilla resistance. For eight years, from roughly 1565 to 1573, the three brothers launched surprise attacks on Portuguese outposts and supply ships and rallied islanders across the atolls to their cause, at the cost of one brother captured and beheaded by the Portuguese. Their campaign finally expelled the Portuguese garrison from Male in 1573, and Thakurufaanu was proclaimed Sultan, founding the Utheemu dynasty and forming the Lashkaru, the first unified Maldivian military body. He ruled until his natural death in 1585. His victory is commemorated every year as Maldives National Day, and the country's largest mosque, the Islamic Centre, bears his name.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-Auzam" · Ras.mv, "Maldivian History 1: The Martyrdom of King Ali and the Portuguese Conquest of the Maldives" · Royal chronicle (Tarikh) tradition on the Portuguese-era resistance, as summarized in Maldivian national historical accounts