Maumoon Abdul Gayoom: Encyclopedia II - Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Early and personal life

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Early and personal life

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is the son of Abdul Gayoom Ibrahim (Maafaiygey Dhon Seedhi) and Khadheeja Moosa. His father had 25 children by 8 different wives and Gayoom is the 10th in his family. His mother passed away when he was studying in Cairo, Egypt. Gayoom's father who passed away in 1982, at the age of 87, saw the first term of his son's presidency.

Much of Gayoom's early life was spent in Egypt. He was among the 15 students selected at the direction of the then-president Mohamed Amin Didi for special education overseas. At the age of 10, he left to Egypt on September 15, 1947 but was to stay in Ceylon for few days. However his departure from Ceylon to Egypt was delayed for two and a half years, because of the Arab- Israeli conflict started due to recognition of the Israel by the United Nations, at the end of the World War II. When the situation improved, with the end of war in middle-east, he left to Egypt in March 1950 along with other Maldivian students. He spent almost 24 years outside Maldives except for the brief period he once came to Maldives, In 1964. After sometime in Maldives, again he left to Egypt to begin studying for Diploma of Education. He did complete his MA degree in 1966 but could not complete his PhD due to funding issues (See sub-section, Education). After completing his MA degree, he worked in American University in Cairo, in 1967, as research assistant in Islamic History under professor Mardsen-Jones. There he worked for almost 2 years and left to Kano, Nigeria.

In 1965 Gayoom met Nasreena Ibrahim, a student who had just arrived to Cairo from the Maldives for her studies. She was 15 then and Gayoom was 27. Four years later they married in Cairo, on July 14, 1969. Just few weeks after his marriage, he joined Ahmadu Bello university in Kano, Nigeria as lecturer in Islamic Studies and moved there with Nasreena. In March 20, 1970, at the age of 20, Nasreena gave birth to twins, Dhunya Maumoon and Yumna Maumoon. When Nasreena got pregnant for the second time it was arranged to send her to Malé. She gave birth to their first son, Farish, in Malé, on March 31, 1971. Nine years later, during Gayoom's presidency, Ghassan Abdul Gayoom was born on June 12, 1980.

During his time at Egypt he was particularly interested in Egyptian Political Affairs. He was closely following the revolutionary movement accelerated by the Muslim Brotherhood and Free Officers Movement of Gamal Abdel Nasser. He attended several public meetings of Muslim Brotherhood where celebrated orators like Sayyid Qutb railed against Britain, imperialism and King Farouk's Government. In July 1952 Gayoom was at Muslim Brotherhood camp, on holiday, when Gamal Abdel Nasser took over the power in a bloodless military coup. In his book A man for all Islands, Biographer Royston Ellis wrote, "Maumoon regarded it as a privilege to be able to hear Sayyed Qutb".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early and personal life", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki