Shiekh Ubaidullah (born c. 663 AD) was a Muslim Arab saint from

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

. He is thought to be a relative of

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honori ...

from whom Ubaidullah learnt about Islam in an environment free from desire and greed of

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical material ...

for developing his moral and spiritual beliefs.

Early life

The name Ubaidullah is an indirect

Quranic The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sin ...

name that means “little servant of Allah”. ''Ubaid'' is the diminutive form of the word ''Abd'' ("servant") and is formed from ''Ubaid'' (“little servant”) and ''Allah'' (“God”), -u- being the case marking for the nominative (in

construct state In Afro-Asiatic languages, the first noun in a genitive phrase of a possessed noun followed by a possessor noun often takes on a special morphological form, which is termed the construct state (Latin ''status constructus''). For example, in Arab ...

). Nothing is known about the early life of the saint except his lineage which is traced to Caliph Abu Bakr, the Ist rightly guided Caliph, of whom he is believed to be in some close relation.

Career

By profession, the Saint is believed to be a merchant before undertaking the holy mission to preach Islam.

Tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

has it that Saint Ubaidullah, once praying in the Holy prophet's mosque in

fell asleep and saw a dream in which he saw

Prophet Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...

and was told by the Prophet to go to distant lands from the east of Jeddah to preach Islam to the people. He interpreted the dream as a

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

vision from

Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", ...

for his salvation and the people of those distant lands, so he proceeded to Jeddah where he travelled across the ocean for accomplishing his mission.

Preaching Islam in Lakshadweep India

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 Andrott Island, also known as Androth Island, is a small inhabited island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, a group of 36 coral islands scattered in the Arabian Sea off the western coast of India It has a distance of west of the city of ...

where he got significantly high conversions. He then went to

Kavaratti Kavaratti is the capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India. Kavaratti is a census town as well as the name of the atoll upon which the town stands. It is well known for its pristine white sand beaches and calm lagoons, which makes ...

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 Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات). Etymology The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...

. Sheikh Ubaidullah advanced Islam in

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Laccadive Islands in the middle with the Amindivi Islands in the north separated roughly by the 11th parallel north and ...

(now in India) Islands by delivering sermons before the islanders.

Death and legacy

Apparently, the saint died at Andrott Island with his remains buried in Juma Mosque. Juma Mosque, one of the top attractions in Lakshadweep is said to have been built during his time. It is believed that 97% of the population in Lakshadweep being Muslim at present is a result of his

preaching A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. E ...

References

{{authority control Muslim saints 600s births Year of death unknown Muslim missionaries