Page 9 - Urdu Link - May 25, 2018

OPINION MAY 25, 2018 – PAKISTAN LINK – P9

Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
58. Islam Moves East: The Introduction of Islam into Indonesia - Part 3 of 3

n By Prof Dr Nazeer Ahmed, PhD the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazna
Concord, CA (circa 1000) into India. The dagger of
Mahmud thrust deep into India and
uring the second phase of left a legacy of bitterness, which lasts
Islamic penetration, immi- to this day. Later invasions from Af-
Dgration from India to the ghanistan and Central Asia, in search
Archipelago increased. These migra- of loot from Hindustan, solidified this
tions were helped by bitterness. In India, the ruling dynas-
the growth of trade ties were primarily Turkish, Afghan
in the Indian Ocean and Moghul who looked outside the
and the pivoted role subcontinent for their roots. Except
of Malabar, Gujrat for a brief interlude in the reign of
and Bengal in this Alauddin Khilji (circa 1300), Indian
trade. Muslim Indi- Muslims and Hindus did not make in-
ans joined the ranks roads into the Delhi courts until later
of the Arabs and Persians as mer- in the Moghul period (16th century).
chants in East Asia. When Malik Ka- Not so in Indonesia.
fur, a general of Emperor Alauddin There, the Hindu and Buddhist
Khilji of Delhi, captured southern rulers themselves accepted Islam and
India (1300-1320), Islam was intro- in turn became champions of the new
duced into the Deccan Plateau of faith. They were Malays, not Turks and
India. Moghuls. The affinity of a people to
Thereafter, many of the migrants their ruler acts as a powerful catalyst
from India to Malaya and Indonesia turn facilitating the further spread of cipal colonial power in the Far East. mand for freedom. The struggle itself for the penetration of new ideas. Islam
were Tamilian Muslims. After 1335, Islam. The experience of the Archipel- The Dutch were as ruthless as the provided an impetus to the consolida- became a native religion in the islands
thanks to the vagaries of Emperor Mu- ago with regard to its initial contacts Portuguese and the Spaniards, waged tion of Islamic influence. The faith of from day one; it took Islam 300 years
hammed bin Tughlaq, India split up with the Europeans was the same as incessant war on the Malays, captured Islam spread and by the turn of the to do so in India. In the subcontinent,
into regional powers. Among the more that of all the other littoral states in the a large number of prisoners and took 20th century, the entire Archipelago the faith spread through the great Sufi
powerful were the kingdoms of Gujrat Indian Ocean. Once the Portuguese them off to far away as Cape Town, had become Muslim except for the shaykhs in spite of the opposition of
(1335-1565), Bengal (1340-1575) and had circumnavigated the coast of Af- South Africa. Among the captives island Bali and the isolated pocket of the rulers, and sometimes the opposi-
the Deccan Sultanates (1336–1650). rica and had established themselves in were many learned Shaykhs and it was Singapore. tion of official kadis. The rulers were
Merchants, Sufi shaykhs and ulema Goa (India), they embarked on a sys- these Shaykhs who introduced Islam Another important aspect of the more interested in collecting taxes
from Gujrat, Bengal, the Makran coast tematic campaign to destroy the im- in Southern Africa. The British, after third phase is the migration of the than in introducing Islam while the
of Baluchistan and the Deccan made portant trading centers of East Africa, Chinese to the archipelago. Of the two kadis were busy giving fatwas.
up the ranks of immigrants to the Ar- the Persian Gulf, western India and It is pertinent to pre-Islamic civilizations in Asia, those The second important difference
chipelago. In the 19th and the 20th the Archipelago. However, it was soon of China and India, China had by far was language. In India, Farsi was the
centuries, when Great Britain con- obvious that Portugal had neither the ask why Islam the most political military-technolog- court language, as it was at the Safavid
trolled both India and Malaya, more manpower nor the resources to domi- found widespread ical influence on East Asia. But India and Central Asian courts. Urdu and
Indians traveled to Malaya as soldiers nate the Indian Ocean. acceptance in a had the greater religious-cultural in- Hindi were native languages but did
and policemen. Despite these migra- The powerful Ottoman Turks, fluence. China radiated its power all not find acceptance as court languages.
tions, the Indian Muslims remained a who had by now assumed the Caliph- Hindu-Buddhist across the ancient world. Chinese am- In the Archipelago, Malay remained
small minority in both Malaya and In- ate and were duty-bound to assist the matrix in Indonesia bassadors were received with honor in the official language undergoing a
donesia although many Muslim Indo- Muslims around the globe, resisted the Delhi, Samarqand, Yemen and Cairo. transformation through the influence
Pakistanis intermarried with the Ma- Portuguese aggression. Turkish naval and Malaysia, In 1406, the great Chinese Admiral of Arabic and Persian, but remaining
lays and became a part of the Islamic forces engaged the Portuguese navy whereas in India it Zheng Yi sailed the waters of the In- essentially a language of the islands.
amalgam. off the shores of East Africa and con- found only partial dian Ocean with a mighty fleet as far The third reason was the depth
In the third phase - 1500 to 1950 tained the advance of Portuguese pow- as the Cape of Good Hope in South of penetration of Hindu and Buddhist
- the consolidation of Islam that had er. After 1550, a balance of power pre- acceptance. Several Africa, visiting along the way, the Sul- cultures. In India, Hinduism had dis-
started in the second phase continued. vailed between Portugal and the land reasons may be tanate of Java, Sri Lanka, Malabar, Ye- placed Buddhism and had consolidat-
Major strides were made not just in powers of Asia. The spirit of resistance men and Dar-es-Salaam in Zanzibar. ed its hold through the work of Shan-
the conversion of people, but also in to the European Christian invasions advanced to explain The rajas and sultans of southeast Asia karacharya (7th century). The caste
the evolution of culture and literature. provided further impetus and drive to these differences. always saw fit to court the Chinese for system was rigid and almost impen-
The influence of Islam on the the spread of Islam in the Archipelago. First, the process trade and protection. The mass migra- etrable. Not so in Indonesia and In-
Malay language was profound. In In- The next on the scene were the tion of Chinese to the archipelago was dochina. There, Hinduism was a court
dia and Pakistan, the cultural impact Spanish who were just as ruthless as of introduction of of more recent times. veneer imposed from the top. Most of
of the Turks had resulted in the birth the Portuguese and were far more Islam was different During the 19th century, many the population had remained animist.
of a new language, Urdu. In Indonesia powerful. After expelling the Jews and Chinese were brought over to work in The caste system had not filtered down
and Malaysia, the religious impact of the Muslims from Spain (1492-1502) in India and the the plantations of Malaya and Indo- to the common folk. The religious
the Sufis and the ulema transformed and destroying the ancient civiliza- Archipelago. During nesia. Some came as merchants and milieu in these regions was closer to
the Malay language. New alphabets tions of the Aztecs, the Mayans and the the first phase of stayed. By the end of the 19th century, that in West Africa than India. It was
were introduced into the Malay lan- Incas in the Americas (1500 to 1530), the Chinese formed a third of the pop- easier for a universal faith like Islam to
guage to facilitate the pronunciation the Spanish made their appearance in Islamic expansion, ulation of Malaya and a small but in- change the worldview of a people who
of the Qur’an. Arabic and Farsi words East Asia. Magellan arrived in 1521, between 622 and fluential minority of the population of were innately spiritual and open (as in
enriched the language, expanding its just about the time that the Sultan of 1100, the commercial Indonesia. The area in and around the the Archipelago) than a people who
reach to include philosophy, theology, Manila had accepted Islam and the modern city of Singapore had a Chi- were spiritual but were insulated in the
polemics, exposition and the rational new faith was establishing roots in the contacts between nese majority and that city continues rigid compartments of a hierarchical
sciences, which facilitated the integra- northern islands. In 1564, the Philip- West Asia and the to be dominated by the Chinese today. caste structure (as in India).
tion of the Malay peoples into the in- pines fell to the Spanish who promptly Most of the Chinese immigrants were Finally, the partial conversion
ternational brotherhood of Islam. introduced the Inquisition into the coastlines of India not Muslim and it prevented them of the subcontinent added another
The transcendence of Tawhid Archipelago and started a process of and Indonesia from melting into the Malayan society. element of tension in a diverse land
replaced the old worldview based on forced conversion. The resistance of were similar. Islam Only in the interior regions of Ma- already divided by region, language,
man-made deities. Language itself the Muslims, however, successfully laysia and Indonesia were there some culture and caste. These tensions burst
went through a transformation to ac- contained the Spanish advance to the made a peaceful conversions when the Chinese occa- forth as political-military rivalries in
commodate the concepts of Being and northern islands. penetration into sionally married into Muslim families. the 18th century just as soon as the
the universal community of man. By The Portuguese and Spanish in- It is pertinent to ask why Islam central Muslim power in Delhi waned
the 16th century, the Malay language vasions halted the northward spread southwestern India found widespread acceptance in a and then disappeared. The Europeans
had become the common medium of of Islam and arrested its advance into and the Archipelago Hindu-Buddhist matrix in Indone- fully exploited these tensions to their
expression of all the Malay peoples Vietnam and Indochina. A long and sia and Malaysia, whereas in India it advantage. In the Archipelago, the
in Indonesia, Malaysia and the protracted military struggle ensued, found only partial acceptance. Several acceptance of Islam was almost com-
Philippines, displacing the ancient Ja- between the invading Spanish and the consolidating their position in India reasons may be advanced to explain plete. The Malay peoples of Indonesia
vanese language. It also became the defending Malay peoples, a struggle (1757-1806), proceeded to occupy the these differences. First, the process of and Malaysia found in the new faith
medium for the propagation of the that goes on to this day in the island Straits of Malacca (1812). In the latter introduction of Islam was different in a source of national cohesiveness and
new faith throughout the islands. of Mindanao. By the 16th century, a part of the 19th century, the states of India and the Archipelago. During the universal solidarity.
The third phase is also marked by military stalemate developed in which the Archipelago fell one after the other first phase of Islamic expansion, be- (The author is Director, World
the appearance of the Europeans. The the island of Mindanao became the to the Dutch and the British. In the tween 622 and 1100, the commercial Organization for Resource Develop-
Portuguese arrived first, capturing by boundary between the Spanish pos- ensuing struggle for independence, contacts between West Asia and the ment and Education, Washington, DC;
force of arms the commercially im- sessions in the north and the Muslim the Malay language provided a com- coastlines of India and Indonesia were Director, American Institute of Islamic
portant straits of Malacca in 1512. The Malay territories to the south. mon bond for the peoples of Indonesia similar. Islam made a peaceful pen- History and Culture, CA; Member,
fall of Malacca forced the migration of In the 17th century, the Dutch and Malaysia and Islam was a primary etration into southwestern India and State Knowledge Commission, Ban-
local scholars to the other islands, in displaced the Portuguese as the prin- vehicle for an expression of their de- the Archipelago. This changed with galore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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