The preface to the Dhivehi Tareek - a collection begun in 1902 of copies from original documents, written by judges Hassan Tajudeen, Mohamed Muhibudeen and Ibrahim Sirajudeen, which were destroyed in 1752 when Malabari moslems burnt the palace in Male'. Later judges had added to the records until the mid-1800s when the writings abruptly cease. The most reliable extant copy was seen by H.C.P. Bell in Male' in 1920 and 1922. That copy was given as a gift to the government of Ceylon by king Mohamed Shamsudeen III.
In 1981, Maldivian writers Ibrahim Shihaab and Hassan Manik wrote prefaces for the first publication of the collection, nearly 80 years after the project began.
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