Unknown Bank Notes?

My father gave me this bank note the other day. I looked at the obverse of the note and realised that this note is aimed at not making itself known with one look. The letterings or alphabets are unusual and I was quite surprised that this particular country had its own way of writing - its own alphabets. Another oddity is that this note belong to a Muslim country as the dates are both in the normal Gregorian calendar and a Lunar Muslim calendar.

You have to turn the note over before realising that this is issued by the Maldives Monetary Authority. My father got this note and the remaining lower denomination values as he was both the Brunei High Commissioner to Singapore and also the High Commissioner to Maldives even though Maldives and Singapore are not exactly neighbours - separated by several thousand miles apart.

The influence of the British is quite apparent in the colour of the note. Blue is the British colour for $50 and the same colour appeared in many other British colonies' currency notes.