CHAPTER THREE

TRADE AND PORT TOWNS OF THE CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC PERIOD

– –  A  ^; cº  4  <  5 LHa M $ L  M c¸  );  4  5 . < 41 They sail to the island of Qanbal . . . then to Sufla and Wqwq at the extremity of the Land of the . . . the S rf s cross this . I, too, sailed across from the city of Sanjr in in company of S rf shipmasters.1 Al-Masd (d. 345/956–7)

Al-Bahrayn, Oman, and the coastal towns of were under Persian Ssnian rule when Islam emerged as a dominant force. Although historical documentation on trade and port towns before the advent of Islam (1st/7th c) and its early period is gen- erally lacking, there is, however, evidence to suggest that from Ssnian times, trade from the Western was handled through the Mesopotamian- route. It was here and in the of Oman that an annual trade fair was held before and after the coming of Islam, attracting merchants and traders who came across to Awal (modern ), Sohar and Dabba, then the capital of Oman.2 A fair took place from the beginning of Jumd I to the end of the month. Ibn bab b (d. 245/860), reporting on this event, relates that

1 Wa-yantah haul f Ba4r al-Zanj il Jaz rat Qanbal . . . wa-il bild Sufla wa-l-Wqwq min aq ar al-Zanj . . . wa-yaq>a hdh l-ba4r al-S r y y n wa-qad rakibtu an hdh l-ba4r min mad nat Sanjr min bild Umn maa jama min nawkhida l-S r y y n, al-Masd 1983, I: 123. Note Sanjr was the metropolis of Oman at the time al-Masd wrote the Murj al-dhahab (4th/10th c), see the editor’s note by Ysuf Asad Dghir, ibid. 2 Ibn bab b 1942: 265.

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Persians used to cross the and come to it [i.e. the fair] with their merchandise . . . [ fa-tawf bih Fris yaq>ana al-ba4r ilayh bi-biytihim . . .].3 Other people came to these fairs: Ibn bab b says that at Dabba, one of the two ancient Arabian ports, merchants from Sind, India, China, people of the East and the West came to it . . . [ yat h tujjr al-Sind wa-l-Hind wa-l-^ n wa-ahl al-Mashriq wa-l- Maghrib . . .].4 Ssnian Persian and Byzantine administration for many years con- trolled this trade, imposing heavy duties on all merchants and traders. Local chiefs were appointed as agents to exact customs dues. As tax on sea traf c increased, it was natural then that shipmasters, merchants and traders began to look for a different route to the Persian Gulf. The was a good alternative and trade must have then passed into the hands of those, such as the Meccans, who found ways to control the Spice Route.5 Prophetic traditions offer up some evidence as to regular sea traf c between Arabia and Abyssinia (modern Eritrea): the rst, reports that a ship owned by a Byzantine trader was wrecked at the port of Jeddah and local builders used her timber to cover the roof of the Kaaba at Mecca; the second one relates that the rst Muslim converts sailed on merchant ships to Abyssinia;6 the third states that the ruler of Abys- sinia sent a party of 60 persons on board a ship in 6/627 which never reached the coast of Arabia; and the fourth reports that in 7/628 bab ba, the Prophet’s wife, was among a number of Quraysh emigrants who sailed from Abyssinia to Jar on the Arabian littoral.7 None of these traditions suggests that trade was taking place with the kingdom of Aksum in Eritrea. Aksum was the capital of the empire that lasted up to two centuries after the coming of Islam. Adulis was then “the most important port town” of the Aksumite kingdom.8

3 Ibid., translation in Shoufani 1973: 155. 4 Ibn bab b 1942: 265–6; translation in Shoufani 1973: 156. 5 See Kawar 1957: 184–92; Shoufani 1973: 69. 6 On the number of Muslim immigrants that sailed to Abyssinia on boats, see Adel Salahi’s study, 2005: 124, 127, 132, 141. 7 Al-0abar 1965, I (ii): 1135, 1181–2; I (iii): 1570–1. 8 Raunig 2004: 87.

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