Sheikh Ubaidullah

The name Ubaidullah is an indirect Quranic name that means “little servant of Allah”. Ubaidullah is the diminutive form of the name Abdullah and is formed from Ubaid (“little servant”), -u- (“of”) and Allah (“God”).[3]

According to tradition Sheikh Ubaidullah was once praying in a mosque in Mecca where he felt asleep and saw a dream in which he was told by the prophet Muhammad to go to distant lands from the east of Jeddah to preach Islam.[4]

He interpreted the dream as a divine vision from Allah for his salvation and the people of those distant lands, so he proceeded to Jeddah where from he traveled across the ocean for accomplishing his mission.

On his journey his vessel capsized in a storm and he had to continue his journey by drifting on a plank till he reached Amini in AH 41 (663 AD). He started his act of preaching from Amini and was able to convert the Pondambelli family despite the initial linguistic challenges. After facing opposition there he left Amini with some of his new Muslim fellows and moved to Andrott where he got significantly high conversions. He then went to Kawaratti and Agatti, preaching there and then came back to Amini. This time unlike his first arrival in Amini, he was welcomed and via his preaching could successfully influence and convert almost the whole of population to Islam. At last stage of his life, he travelled to Andrott where he lived the rest of his life preaching and teaching. Ubaidullah never went back to his home land of Hijaz and devoted his life for dawah.[4] Sheikh Ubaidullah advanced Islam in Lakshadweep (now in India) Islands by delivering sermons before the islanders. Apparently, the saint died at Andrott Island with his remains buried in Jumah Mosque. His grave is revered by people as sacred. His work was rewarded as 97% of Islanders are Muslims at present.[5]