With the exception of Shi'a members of the Indian trading community, Maldivians are Sunni Muslims; adherence to Islam, the state religion since the twelfth century, is required for citizenship. The importance of Islam in Maldives is further evident in the lack of a secular legal system. Instead, the traditional Islamic law code of sharia, known in Dhivehi as sariatu, forms the basic law code of Maldives as interpreted to conform to local Maldivian conditions by the president, the attorney general, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Majlis. On the inhabited islands, the miski, or mosque, forms the central place where Islam is practiced. Because Friday is the most important day for Muslims to attend mosque, shops and offices in towns and villages close around 11 a.m., and the sermon begins by 12:30 p.m. Most inhabited islands have several mosques; Malé has more than thirty. Most mosques are whitewashed buildings constructed of coral stone with corrugated iron or thatched roofs. In Malé, the Islamic Center and the Grand Friday Mosque, built in 1984 with funding from the Persian Gulf states, Pakistan, Brunei, and Malaysia, are imposing elegant structures. The gold-colored dome of this mosque is the first structure sighted when approaching Malé. In mid-1991 Maldives had a total of 724 mosques and 266 women's mosques. Shia Islam ( Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite or Shiite) is the second largest Islamic denomination; some 20-25% of all Muslims are said to follow a Shia tradition. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Islam â–¶(?) (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... Sharia (Arabic شريعة also Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is traditional Islamic law. ... Sharia (Arabic: ; also SharÄ«ah, Sharia, Shariah or Syariah) is the Arabic word for Islamic law, also known as the Law of Allah. ... Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language and the official language of the Republic of the Maldives. ... Mosque; Aswan, Egypt. ... Malé (Dhivehi: މާލެ), population 81,647 (2004), is the capital of the Republic of Maldives. ... This page is about the year 1984. ... The Arabian Gulf States, also called the Gulf States (which may cause a confusion with the Gulf States of the United States, which are those along the Gulf of Mexico), are the countries in Southwest Asia or the Middle East which border the Arabian Gulf. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Prayer sessions are held five times daily. Mudimu, the mosque caretakers, make the call. Most shops and offices close for fifteen minutes after each call. During the ninth Muslim month of Ramadan, Muslims fast during the daylight hours. Therefore, cafés and restaurants are closed during the day, and working hours are limited. The exact occurrence of Ramadan varies each year because it depends on the lunar cycle. Ramadan begins with the new moon and ends with the sighting of the next new moon. A call to prayer in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. ... The müezzin (the word is pronounced this way Turkish, Urdu, etc. ... Ramadan or Ramadhan (Arabic: رمضان ) is the ninth month of the Islamic year. ... In astronomy, a phase of the Moon is any of the aspects or appearances presented by the Moon as seen from Earth, determined by the portion of the Moon that is visibly illuminated by the Sun. ...

The isolation of Maldives from the historical centers of Islam in the Middle East and Asia has allowed some pre-Islamic beliefs and attitudes to survive. Western anthropologist Maloney during his 1970s fieldwork in Maldives reports being told by a Muslim cleric that for most Maldivians Islam is "largely a matter of observing ablutions, fasting, and reciting incomprehensible Arabic prayer formulas." There is a widespread belief in jinns, or evil spirits. For protection against such evils, people often resort to various charms and spells. The extent of these beliefs has led some observers to identify a magico-religious system parallel to Islam known as fanditha, which provides a more personal way for the islanders to deal with either actual or perceived problems in their lives. See Anthropology. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Ablutions in the most liturgical denominations, such as The Episcopal Church, refers to a ritual cleansing of the chalice and paten used in the Eucharist after all have taken Communion. ... Fasting is the act of willingly abstaining from all food and in some cases drink, for a period of time. ... Genie is the anglicized word for the Arabic jinni. In Semitic mythology and Islamic religion, a jinni (also djinni or djini) is a member of the jinn (or djinn), a race of spirits. ...

See also

• Islam by country

Distribution of Islam Important note: There is currently no exact mechanism in place anywhere around the world for counting religious denomination membership with precision. ...

References

• This article incorporates public domain text from the Library of Congress Country Studies.