Maldives: The call to prayer made with a conch shell. The Maldives converted to Islam in the 12th century CE (1980)

Indigenous epigraphic records dating from the late 12th century CE indicate that, in 1153, the Maldives were converted to Islam by a wandering Arab mendicant. Certainly today the islands are one hundred percent Muslim, and eight centuries of tropical monsoon and Islamic iconoclasm have left little trace of the pre-Islamic religion and culture of the islanders.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

Andrew Forbes

Credit:

Pictures From Asia