ISLAM SPREADS TO SOUTH, EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA

ISLAM ARRIVES IN SOUTH ASIA

the great mosque of Delhi

Islam arrived in present-day Pakistan and India from the south and north. Between 711 and 1526 various Muslim armies—Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Mughals—conquered northern Indian from the west while Islam was absorbed more peacefully in the south through the efforts of maritime traders and missionaries from the Middle East and Iran. At this time the center of Muslim power was moving eastward from the Mediterranean as the second Damascus-based caliphate declined and a new one rose on Baghdad. The Baghdad rulers also expanded into Persia, Central Asia.

Islam was propagated by the Prophet Muhammad during the early seventh century in the deserts of Arabia. Less than a century after its inception, Islam's presence was felt throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, Iran, and Central Asia. Arab military forces conquered the Indus Delta region in Sindh in 711 and established an Indo-Muslim state there. Sindh became an Islamic outpost where Arabs established trade links with the Middle East and were later joined by teachers or sufis, but Arab influence was hardly felt in the rest of South Asia. [Source: Library of Congress]

According to one story, piracy prompted Muslim-Arab expansion into northern India. Pilgrims traveling from Ceylon to Mecca in A.D. 711 were abducted from their ship and taken to the port of Daybul on the Indus delta and imprisoned by a local raja, who controlled a kingdom of Buddhists and Hindus that was centered around present-day Karachi. . A viceroy in Iraq was outraged. He engaged a 17-year-old general, Muhammad Bin Qasim of Arabia, who led an army of 6,000 Syrian Arabs on a 1,500 mile march across the deserts of Baluchistan and Sind. They army stormed Daybul and killed the raja and expanded into the Indus Valley. Bin Qasim led his army northwards, accompanied by 4,000 Jat soldiers, and conquered Multan, where they claimed an ancient golden temple dedicated to a sun god that was filled with gold.

Websites on Islamic History: History of Islam: An encyclopedia of Islamic history historyofislam.com ; Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World oxfordislamicstudies.com ; Sacred Footsetps sacredfootsteps.com ; Islamic History Resources uga.edu/islam/history ; Internet Islamic History Sourcebook fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook ; Islamic History friesian.com/islam ; Muslim Heritage muslimheritage.com ; Chronological history of Islam barkati.net

Arab Expansion into Southeast Asia

Islam was likely brought to Southeast Asia by Muslim traders, who used dhows, boats like the one pictured here

Monsoon winds and Arab traders transported Allah's message to the Indian coast, Malaysia and Indonesia. Arab sailors married women all over the Indian Ocean. They often had families at home and abroad. Families in India and other places were often pleased to have their daughters marry Arab traders.

The Muslim conquest is in South Asia helped Arabs, Persians and other Muslims take control of a trade network throughout Southeast Asia and the East Indies that made the Indian Ocean an "Arabic-speaking Mediterranean." Sailing merchants and the states that supported them grew rich from trading camphor, cinnamon, pepper, ambergris, silk, gold, gems, porcelain and sandalwood.

Monsoon winds were so regular that Muslim navigators not only could rely on them to carry them where they wanted to go, they also served as a kind of compass because they blew consistently from the same direction.

Muslim merchants settled in Malaya at a time when Buddhist trade had collapsed there and won great prestige. Sufism appealed to people nurtured on mysticism. By the 15th century Malaya was predominately Muslim and it had its own sultanates. The Dutch historian Andre Wink wrote created "a world economy in and around the Indian Ocean—with India at its center and the Middle East and China as it dynastic poles." When the Europeans came they could not get rid of the Muslims.

How Islam Reached South Asia

According to The Economist: “It is not clear when Islam came to South-East Asia, and whether Arabs, Persians or Indians were its main disseminators. But there is no doubt that it was spread for the most part by merchants, rather than the warriors who brought it to the Middle East and North Africa. Local people seem to have converted gradually, while preserving many of their pre-Islamic beliefs. For a long time, Muslims remained a minority, and had to learn to rub along with people of other faiths. Hindu kingdoms endured in Java until the 16th century, for example, while Spanish colonisers and Muslim preachers seem to have arrived in the Philippines only a few decades apart. [Source: The Economist , May 29, 2003 */]

“What is more, the merchant missionaries themselves seem to have followed a fairly unorthodox brand of Islam. They introduced Sufism, a form of mysticism frowned upon by dogmatic Muslims. And although almost all South-East Asian Muslims follow the Sunni sect, Shia holidays have entered the local tradition. To this day, even the Acehnese, popularly considered the region's most devout Muslims, celebrate Ashura, an exclusively Shia festival in the rest of the Islamic world. */

Charles F. Gallagher wrote in the “International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences”: The faith came to these areas at a comparatively late date and was spread more gradually, sometimes by force, but more often through the voluntary conversion of nonmonotheists. Muslim power gained sway in northwest India only after A.D. 1000, and converts in Bengal were not numerous until the sixteenth century. The force of Islam in south Asia in modern times is shown by the success of Muslim demands for the partition of British India and the establishment of Pakistan as a separate state for Muslims. In addition to some ninety million Muslims in that country, a large minority of over forty million is found in India. In south Asia as a whole, Muslims have increased their numbers at the expense of non-Muslims, not only because of the one-way nature of conversion but because of socioeconomic factors, including a greater life expectancy resulting from a higher protein diet, the urban nature of the Muslim population, which somewhat spares it from rural famines, and the fact that widows are permitted to remarry. [Source: Charles F. Gallagher, “International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences”, 1960s, Encyclopedia.com]

Early History of Islam in China

Islam was introduced to western China by missionaries traveling on the Silk Road and to the ports of Canton and Hangzhou by mariners traveling on trade routes around India and Southeast Asia. The first Muslim missionary to arrive in China purportedly was an uncle of Muhammad who arrived in Canton in A.D. 627. More likely the first Muslims showed up there sometime in the 8th century. Some Mongol generals during the Yuan dynasty were Muslims. The Great Mosque of Xian was built on A.D. 742.

Islam first appeared in China in the 7th century in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), following the emergence of Islam in Arabia in 610. Arab and Persian traders, soldiers and Sufi saints played a significant role in the transmission of Islam to Asia. Persian and Arab traders first settled in the southeastern coast of China, Canton (Guangzhou," Xiamen, Quanzhou, Yangzhou, and some of them married local Chinese. They were few in number are were largely ignored by local officials during Tang and Song Dynasties (618-1279). [Source: Ali Osman Ozkan, Fountain magazine, April 2014]

Islam spread in China during the Yuan Dynasty (1368-1644) because the Mongol rulers forced many Muslims living in Central Asia and Western Asia to migrate to China. The “armies of Genghis Khan and his successors sacked major Islamic centers, including Bukhara and Samarkand, and transported sections of the population-skilled armourers, other craftsmen, and enslaved women and children among them-back to China, where they were settled as servants to Mongol aristocrats" (Dillon, 1996). In addition, the Mongol rulers of China made legal and hierarchical distinctions between the four kinds of people that led the Muslims to have higher status than the Chinese because the Muslims succeeded the Mongols who were at the top level (Gladney, 1996).

Islam had different names at different time in China. In the Tang and Song dynasties, it was called "Dashi Law" and "Dashi religion"; in the Yuan dynasty, it was called "Huis Law" and the "Huis style"; in the Ming dynasty, it was called "Huis denomination" and "Islam"; while in the Qing dynasty, it was called "Arabian religion" and "Islam", and so on. After the founding of Communist China in 1949, the State Council issued orders for it to universally be called Islam. [Source: Liu Jun, Museum of Nationalities, Central University for Nationalities, kepu.net.cn ~]

At the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty, Islamic Sufi mysticism was widely spread throughout China. At the end of the Qing dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the Yihewani Movement of "respecting scripture and reforming custom" emerged, the Beijing-endorsed Islam was divided into three denominations—Gedimu, Yihewani and Xidaotang— and four official schools— Zhehelinye, Gadelinye, Hufuye and Kubulinye, with more than 40 branches. ~

Battle of Talas

In 751, Chinese forces of the Tang dynasty attempting the extend Chinese control into Central Asia were annihilated by a Muslim army in Talas (present-day Tara in Kazakhstan) not far from Samarkand. The defeat of the Chinese in 751 gave Muslims control of the Silk Road.

As China became strong during the Tang dynasty it began expanding westward, for the most part relying more on diplomatic skills than military might to achieve its goals. The strategy worked well until one Chinese viceroy went too far and ordered the murder of the khan of the Tashkent Turks.

In 751 an alliance of enraged Turks, opportunist Arabs and Tibetans maneuvered a Chinese force into the Talas Valley in present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrzgzstan. In the ensuing battle — the Battle of Talas — the Chinese were routed and forced back across the Tian Shan. Tibetans moving up from the south were driven out of the Tarim basin by Uighur Turks, allies of the Tang. The Uighars have been in the region ever since.

The Battle of Talas, ended Chinese ambitions in Central Asia. After the battle, the Turk, Arab and Tibetans splintered and instability was the rule in Central Asia until the 9th century when the Samanid dynasty rose up.

Spread of Islam to Southeast Asia

According to the “Encyclopaedia Judaica”, The manner in which Islam came to South East Asia has not been satisfactorily described so far, but it is clear that it was not by way of conquest. The presence of Muslims in the Indonesian archipelago has been attested since the late 13th century. Muslim merchants and mystics are normally credited with bringing Islam to these areas. It is clear that Muslim conquests and the establishment of Muslim dynasties are not coterminous with the spread of Islam among the population and that the former aspects of Muslim history are known much better than the processes by which Islam became the religion of a substantial part of Asian and African populations. [Source: Haïm Z’ew Hirschberg, “Encyclopaedia Judaica”, 2000, Encyclopedia.com]

Charles F. Gallagher wrote in the “International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences”: Proselytization in southeast Asia was mainly the work of Muslim traders who established themselves in Malaya, Sumatra, and elsewhere in the fourteenth century. Gradually Islam spread inland in Sumatra and Malaya and penetrated the farther islands of Indonesia as far as the southern Philippines. Today the Malays of Malaya are overwhelmingly Muslim and the Indonesians are very heavily Muslim, while important minorities exist in Thailand, Burma, and the Philippines. The stronghold that Islam had early obtained in central Asia was the source for the considerable Islamization of Sinkiang and parts of northwestern China in later times. At present it is estimated that as much as one-tenth of the total Chinese population may be considered Muslim. [Source: Charles F. Gallagher, “International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences”, 1960s, Encyclopedia.com]

Islam Comes to Malaysia

Islam was introduced to Malaysia by Arab, Persian and Indian traders who controlled trade on the Strait of Malacca. For the most part the process was peaceful; The people who brought Islam were traders first and missionaries second. Most were Sunnis. Shiites came later. Hinduism and Buddhism were already well rooted in Southeast Asia at the time.

Islam came to the Malay Archipelago via Arab and Indian traders in the 13th century, ending the age of Hinduism and Buddhism. It arrived in the region gradually, and became the religion of the elite before it spread to the commoners. The Islam in Malaysia was influenced by previous religions and was originally not orthodox.

Prof. Dr. Nazeer Ahmed, PhD wrote in the Encyclopedia of Islamic History: Around the year 1390, a prince from Java, Parameswara, was forced to flee his homeland. Landing on the west coast of Malaya with a loyal following of about a thousand young men, the prince lived off piracy for almost ten years. At that time, Siam (modern Thailand) was the imperial power in the area. Parameswara drove out the Siamese and established the town of Malacca in 1403. The name Malacca derives from the Arabic word Malakut-meaning market place. The Arabs had maintained a trading colony there since the 8th century.

“Once settled, the prince encouraged peaceful trade. The fame and fortune of the trading post grew until it attracted international attention. The Muslims dominated the trade in the Indian Ocean. Arabic had become the lingua franca of traders in this region. Islam was gaining a following in the islands of Indonesia. Across the Straits from Malacca, the powerful Muslim kingdom of Acheh was emerging. Local folklore has it that around the year 1405, Prince Parameswara fell in love with a princess from the court of Pasai, accepted Islam, married her and changed his name to Sultan Iskander Shah.

Introduction of Islam to southern, eastern and southeastern Asia

Islam Comes to Indonesia

Islam had been known in what is now Indonesia since the eighth century but does not appear to have begun to take hold until the beginning of the thirteenth century at the earliest. The first Indonesian Islamic ruler in the archipelago for whom we now have clear evidence was Sultan Sulaiman of Lamreh (northern Sumatra), who died in 1211; several other Sumatran kings, probably influenced by traders and intellectuals arriving from Gujarat and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, became Muslims later in the thirteenth century. Javanese do not appear to have begun conversion until well into the fifteenth century, despite several centuries’ presence there of foreign Muslims. [Source: Library of Congress *]

Much of this story may not yet be clear to historians, however, for graves at Trowulan and Tralaya near the eastern Java heart of Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit strongly suggest that some members of that state’s elite, perhaps even of the court, had converted to Islam as early as 1368, a time when Majapahit and its state orthodoxies were still very much in the ascendent. The small trading port states on the Pasisir—Java’s north coast—many of which later broke away from Majapahit’s control, do not appear to have begun to convert to Islam until at least the mid-fifteenth century. This probably developed from the influence of Chinese, Cham, and Chinese-Javanese Muslim merchants and later as a result of the efforts of the so-called Nine Saints ( wali songo), some of whom were probably Chinese-Javanese and others connected with Indian and Persian Islam. The conversion of the eastern archipelago began with the king of Ternate in 1460, but that region was not widely Islamized until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. *

The spread of Islam in the archipelago is not well understood historically, and, especially regarding this early period, scholars continue to disagree on many fundamental points, such as the precise sources and nature of Muslim influence and the attractions the new religion held for those who eventually adopted it. It is not clear, for example, whether individuals—rulers, elites, or commoners—converted for essentially practical considerations (such as the often very real economic and political advantages of joining the ummah, or community of believers), because of alienation from existing social and political values (in the Hindu- Buddhist kingdoms, for example), or out of an intrinsic interest in the new spiritual and cultural ideas Islam brought with it. Nor is it always obvious why some conversions appear to have been peaceful and others coercive and even violent, or why some indigenous histories emphasize “miraculous” or magical elements in conversions and others do not. Whatever the case, Islamization was not an event, or even a series of events, but rather a long, variegated, and evolutionary process best understood in terms of local, rather than universal, patterns. *

Muslim sultanates in Indonesia and Malaysia

Introduction if Islam to the Philippines

Islam came to the southern Philippines in the 15th century from Malaysia and Sumatra via Brunei and Borneo. The religion spread to Palawan and Manila but was halted by the arrival of the Spanish. Islam has endured on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago between Borneo and Mindanao.

Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from the Indonesian islands. By 1500 Islam had gained a foothold in much of coastal Philippines and was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there to Mindanao; it had reached the Manila area by 1565. Muslim immigrants introduced a political concept of territorial states ruled by rajas or sultans who exercised suzerainty over the datu. Neither the political state concept of the Muslim rulers nor the limited territorial concept of the sedentary rice farmers of Luzon, however, spread beyond the areas where they originated. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the majority of the estimated 500,000 people in the islands still lived in barangay settlements. *

Philippine Muslims regard themselves as descendants of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu. The Royal Sultanate of Sulu was an Islamic kingdom that ruled the islands and seas in the southern Philippines and northern Borneo long before the arrival of the Spanish. The Muslim sultanate of Brunei was a very powerful kingdom in the16th century. It ruled over all of Sarawak, Sabah and Borneo as well as part of the Sulu Islands and the Philippines.

The Spanish viewed the Muslims as natural enemies, identified with their Muslim rivals at home, the Moors of Morocco. There was some Muslim-Christian elements to the early conflicts with the Spanish. The “Moro Wars” continued off and on for 300 years after the Spanish arrived. The Christian Spanish had drove Muslims off the northern islands by the early 1600s. Later the Spanish attacked Muslim city-states on Mindanao and established a Jesuit base in eastern Mindanao in Zamboanga. The Muslims were excellent boatmen. After declaring jihad (holy war) against the Christians, they were able to defend their Islamic territories and raid Christian outposts. It wasn’t until the introduction of steamships in the 1800s that the power of the southern Muslim sultanate was brought under control by the Spanish.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons except map of early Islam in Asia, OMF International

Text Sources: Internet Islamic History Sourcebook: sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Arab News, Jeddah; “Islam, a Short History” by Karen Armstrong; “A History of the Arab Peoples” by Albert Hourani (Faber and Faber, 1991); Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Yorker, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Library of Congress and various books and other publications.

Last updated April 2024