The arrival of Arabs and Islam in Arakan The Arab Muslims first came in contact with the Indian Sub-continent and South East Asia through trade and commerce. From the time long past, spices, cotton fabric, precious stones, minerals and other commodities from South and South East Asia were of great demand in the oriental and European countries. The Arabs as seafaring nation almost monopolised this trade between the south and South East Asia on the one hand, the oriental North Africa and European countries on the other. The Arab merchants carried goods to the ports of Mascot and that of Serif on the two side of the Persian Gulf, Basra, Yemen, Jeddah, Qulzum (Suez), for exchange with the goods of the merchants of the Middle Eastern, Central Asian, North African and European countries. For about eight centuries the Arabs monopolised the trade between the East and the West. The Arabs were born traders, and after the introduction of Islam they became a great maritime people. Their profound knowledge in navigation, in the Science of Latitude and Longitude, in astronomical phenomena and in the geography of the countries they visited made them unrivalled in mercantile activities in the Indian Ocean for centuries together. The Arabs used to write about the places that they had visited which indicate their arrivals at East and the West of the world.13 There are frequent references to the Arab Muslims settlers in the coastal regions of Arakan from the 8th century onward. On the basis of the various Arab and Persian sources Mr. Siddiq Khan states as follow: 14 “To the maritime Arabs and Persians the various ports of the land of Burma, and more specially the coastal regions of Arakan... were well known. Naturally, therefore, when from the 8th century onwards, Muslims traders and navigators were spreading over the eastern seas from Egypt and Madagascar to China, and forming commercial settlements at points of vantage, the coastal regions of Burma were not overlooked. Originally, the intention of these traders and sailors had not been to establish permanent colonies, but owing to peculiar circumstances these acquired the nature of permanent settlements.” Mohammed Hanifa and Queen Kaiyapuri The Arab Muslim traders had good contacts with Arakan (Rahambori Island), Burma, Indochina, Indonesia, Malay etc. with their trade and they propagated the religion of Islam in those countries. The arrival of Mohammed Hanif son of Hazarat Ali (R.A) to Arakan is also narrated in a book written in 16th century by Shah Barid Khan named Hanifa O Kaiyapuri. “In 680 AD after the war of ‘Karbala’ Mohammed Hanofiya with his army arrived at Arab-Shah Para, near Maungdaw in the Northern Arakan, while Kaiyapuri, the queen of Cannibals ruled this hilly deep forest attacking and looting the people of Arakan. Mohammed Hanif attacked the Cannibals and captured the queen. She was converted to Islam and married to him. Her followers embraced Islam en masse. Mohammed Hanif and the queen Kaiyapuri lived in Mayu range. The peaks where they lived were still known as Hanifa Tonki and Kaiyapui Tonki. The wild cannibals were tamed and became civilised. Arakan was no more in danger of them and peace and tranquillity prevailed. The followers of Mohammed Hanif and Kaiyapuri were mixed up and lived peacefully.”15 The descendants of these mixed people no doubt formed the original nucleus of the Rohingya Muslims in Arakan. According to the British Burma Gazetteers, “About 788 AD Mahataing Sandya ascended the throne of Vesali, founded a new city (Vesali) on the site of old Ramawadi and died after a reign of twenty two years. In his reign several ships were wrecked on Rambree Island and the crews, said to have been Mohamedans, were sent to Arakan Proper and settled in villages. They were Moor Arab Muslims.”16 The Shrines of “Babazi Sha Monayem of Ambari”, “Pir Badar Sha” (Badar-Al-din Allamah), both situated on the coast of the Bay of Bengal at Akyab, all bear evidence of the arrival of Muslim saints in Arakan in the early period of history. In course of their trading activities in this part of the world, the Arabs colonised in and around Arakan first and afterward began to penetrate into interior part of Burma. They paved the way for the influx of Muslim saints, Sufis, Fakirs and sages in Arakan and East Bengal. Those sages used to visit the remote corners of the provinces only to preach their true religion Islam among the infidels and to dedicate their lives to the service of humanity and the oppressed and suppressed people of the land. The superior moral character and high missionary zeal of those followers attracted large number of people towards Islam who embraced it en masse. So, they have played a very important role in the growth of Muslim population and development of a Muslim Society in Arakan. Moreover, Islam as a resurgent force vastly influenced the warring and Caste-ridden Society of Arakan with its spirit of equality, fraternity and oneness of all human beings. This concepts inspired the down trodden masses to accept the new religion Islam.17 The Origin of Rohingya Rohang, the old name of Arakan, was very familiar region for the Arab seafarers even during the pre-Islamic days. Tides of people like the Arabs, Moors, Turks, Pathans, Moghuls, Central Asians, Bengalees came mostly as traders, warriors, preachers and captives overland or through the sea route. Many settled in Arakan, and mixing with the local people, developed the present stock of people known as ethnic Rohingya. Hence, the Rohingya Muslims, whose settlements in Arakan date back to 7th century AD are not an ethnic group which developed from one tribal group affiliation or single racial stock. They are an ethnic group developed from different stocks of people. The ethnic Rohingya is Muslim by religion with distinct culture and civilisation of their own. They trace their ancestry to Arabs, Moors, Pathans, Moghuls, Central Asians, Bengalis and some Indo-Mongoloid people. Since Rohingyas are mixture of many kinds of people, their cheekbone is not so prominent and eyes are not so narrow like Rakhine Maghs and Burmans. Their noses are not flat and they are a bit taller in stature than the Rakhine Maghs but darker in complexion. They are some bronzing coloured and not yellowish. The Rohingyas of Arakan still carried the Arab names, faith, dress, music and customs. So, the Rohingyas are nationals as well as an indigenous ethnic group of Burma. They are not new born racial group of Arakan rather they are as old an indigenous race of the country as any others.18 The Origin of Rakhine In the year 957 AD, a Mongolian invasion swept over Vesali, and killed Sula Chandra, the last king of Chandra dynasty. They destroyed Vesali and placed on their throne Mongolian kings. Within a few years the Hindus of Bengal were able to establish their Pala Dynasty. But the Hindus of Vesali were unable to restore their dynasty because of the invasion and migrations of Tibeto-Burman who were so great that their population over shadowed the Vesali Hindus. They cut Arakan away from Indians and mixing in sufficient number with the inhabitants of the eastern-side of the present Indo-Burma divide, created that Indo-Mongoloid stock now known as the Rakhine Arakanese. This emergence of a new race was not the work of a single invasion. But the date 957 AD may be said to mark the appearance of the Rakhine in Arakan, and the beginning of fresh period.19 The new English Dictionary states that the word Mog, Mogen, Mogue appear as names of Arakan and the people in 15-16th centuries.20 Today the Maghs of Arakan and Bangladesh disown this name because the word Magh became synonymous with sea pirates. For more than two centuries the Maghs of Arakan were known as sea pirates in Bengal. The Maghs earned such a bad name during the last many centuries that it has become a great shame for their descendants of today to own the name Magh. Thus they started calling themselves Rakhines. But according to Phayre, the name Magh originated from the ruling race of Magadha and also a well-known poet of Rosanga (Arakan), Dault Kazi (1622-38) mentioned in his Sati Mayna that the kings of Arakan belonged to Magadha dynasty and was Buddhists by faith.21 According to the Maghs of Arakan, they are descendants of Rakkhasa (bilu); the aborigine of the land and the name of their country is Rakkahpura. Ethnically most of the Arakanese Magh belongs to the Mongoloid race. Ethnologists point out that north-western China, the cradle land of mankind between the upper courses of the Yang-Tse-Kiang and of the Hoang-Ho rivers was their earliest home. They entered the area, now known as Burma, through the upper courses of the Irrawadi and Chindwin in three successive waves. In making this entry they encountered the local Mon-Khmer and by defeating them they settled in Burma. However, Arakan Yoma Mountain separates the Arakanese Maghs from the parent stock. Though descended from the same stock, worshipping the same faith and speaking the same language as the Burmese, the Arakanese Maghs have a distinct culture and have preserved a distinct dialect. Hence the Arakanese Maghs of the northern section, close to Bangladesh, exhibit the original Mongoloid features in lesser and subdued degree than their southern brethren. Whether these ethnic differences are due to the intermixture of race or ecological and other factors it is not known. The Arakanese Maghs are short in stature, whose height rarely exceeds five feet six inches. The body seems to be stocky with relatively short legs and body; cheekbone is high and broad. Females are flat chested with thin lips. Black straight hairs, brown small eyes and flat nose are common features of the present-day Rakhine Magh population.22 The spoken language of Rakhine Magh is not a separate language but pure Burmese with phonetic variation. Historians commented on the Rakhine language as follows:23 “ The question of the emergence of the Arakanese Rakhine language is more difficult. No inscriptions in the Burmese script are found in Arakan before 11th and 12th centuries. Whether it was the language of the Mongolian invaders of 10th century or whether it filtered across the mountains after contact with Burma in the 11th and 12th centuries is undecided. As Rakhine language is the same language as Burmese, being merely a dialect, to suppose that it was the language of the invaders is to contend that the Mongolians who extinguished Chandras spoke afterwards became predominant in the Irrawady plain. If the country is postulated, and it is argued that the Burmese language, coming over the mountain road, impinged upon the Mongolian speech of the then Arakanese and created modern Arakanese, linguistic difficulties are raised which are difficult to solve. This question awaits judgement.” King Anawratta of Pagan (1044-77 AD) conquered North Arakan, but it was not incorporated in his kingdom. It remained a semi-independent feudatory state under its hereditary kings. When Pagan fell in 1287 AD Arakan asserted its independence under the famous Minhti, whose regime, according to the chronicles, lasted for the fabulously long period of ninety-five years (1279-1374 AD). His reign is also notable for the defeat of a Bengali raid. After his death Arakan was for a considerable time one of the theatres of war in the great struggle between Ava and the Mon kingdom of Pegu. Both sides sought to gain control over it. First the Burmese, then the Mons, placed their nominees on its throne.24 The development of Muslim Settlements in Arakan The infiltration of Arabs to Arakan has started before Muslims conquest of India. The oft-quoted statements and records of Arab geographers and traders are important source to reconstruct the history of the coming of the Muslims to Arakan. The Arabs used to write about the places that they had visited which indicate their arrivals at east and west of the world. Referring to the early geographers, G.E. Hervay writes, “ To the Arabs, whose shipping predominated in the eastern seas from 8th to 16th century, Burma was Arakan and Lower Burma.” In addition, from the very beginning of Muslim commercial shipping activity in the Bay of Bengal, the Muslim trading ships reach the ports of Arakan just as they did the ports of Burma proper. And as in Burma so, too, in Arakan is there a long tradition of old Indian settlement.25 Bengal became Muslim in 1203 AD, but this was the extreme eastern limit of Islamic overland expansion (although the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago were Islamized much later by missionaries and merchants who came by sea). In northern Arakan close overland ties were formed with East Bengal. The resulting cultural and political Muslim influence was of great significance in the history of Arakan. Actually, Arakan served to a large extent as a bridgehead for Muslim penetration to other parts of Burma, and also Muslims attained some degrees of importance elsewhere as they did in Arakan. The Islamic influence grew in Arakan to the extent of establishing Muslim vassal state beginning in 1430 AD. Muslim’s rule and influence in Arakan lasted for more than 350 years until it was invaded and occupied by Burman in 1784 AD.26 The emergence of Mrauk-U Empire This independent kingdom turned westward, toward Bengal, as a result of the growing power of the Burmese court of Ava. In 1404 AD, the king of Arakan, Narameikhla (1404-1434 AD), was forced to flee to Gaur, capital of Bengal Sultanate, which 86 years earlier had already become independent of the Mogul Emperor in Delhi. Ahmed Shah, Sultan of Gaur, welcomed the refugee king. Narameikhla remained at the court of Gaur, where he served as an officer in Ahmad Shah’s army and fought in his wars. After the victory of the war, king Ahmed Shah handed over the throne of Gaur to his son Nazir Shah (according to Bengal History it was not Nazir Shah but Sultan Jalaluddin Mohammed Shah) in the year 1426 AD.27 Then Naramaikhla pleaded help from the king to regain his lost throne at Launggyet in Arakan. According to Rakhine Razawin (Rakhine History), the Sultan of Bengal agreed to do so when Naramaikhla agreed to abide the following 6-point conditions. They are: - 28 1. To return the twelve towns of Bengal.29 2. To receive Muslim title for the kings of Arakan from Bengal. 3. The court emblem must be inscribed with Kalima Tayuba in Persian. 4. The coins, medallions must be inscribed with Kalima Tayuba in Persian and to mint them in Bengal. 5. To use the Persian as court language of Arakan. 6. To pay taxes and presents annually. The arrival pathan army in Arakan As Naramaikhla agreed to six point conditions (Arakanese kings also followed and practised them while they were independent and under no obligation), in 1429 AD, Sultan Nadir Shah sent Gen. Wali Khan as the head of 20,000 Pathan army with Naramaikhla to restore the throne of Arakan to Naramaikhla. The Pathan army conquered Arakan from the control of Mon and Naramaikhla ascended the throne. Soon Wali Khan and Naramaikhla had a dispute over the No. 5 condition of introduction of Persian language as court language of Arakan. Gen. Wali Khan arrested king Naramaikhla and locked up at Balutaung fettering him. Gen. Wali Khan ruled Arakan for one year and introduced Persian in his court which continued as state language up to 1845 AD and appointed Qazis. But some time after that Narameikhla succeeded in re-conquering Arakan with the help of a second army supplied by Nadir Shah headed by Gen. Sandi Khan. The accession of Min Sawmon to the throne ushered a new era in the history of Arakan. Upon his return, Narameikhla founded a new city, Mrauk-U on the bank of the Lembro River, now known as Mrohaung, which remain the capital until 1785 when Arakan was conquered by Burma. Narameikhla’s Muslim soldiers, who came with him from Bengal, settled in villages near Mrohaung and built the Sandi Khan Mosque, which still exists today. Muslim influence in Arakan, they may be said to date from 1430, the year of Narameikhla’s return. As a result of the close land and sea ties between the two countries, which continued to exist for a long time thereafter, the Muslims played a decisive role in the history of Arakan Kingdom.30
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 19:11:10 +0000
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