Arabic* Introduction
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CHAPTER 7—ARABIC* INTRODUCTION. THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA and Arabia Felix are very old and could be traced back to the time of the Queen of Sheba. The Arabs in those days were in sole possession of the trade between Asia and Europe. The Arab ships were not only continually traversing the Mediterranean, which had become at that time an Arab Lake, but were just as much at home in our waters. They had established several entrepots between Aden and Bombay and there had sprung up a large number of Arab settlements at Chaul, Kalyan and Sopara. Agarthakhides (c. 180 B. C.) says that in his time Indian trade was in the hands of the Sabaeans of Yemen. He also speaks of Sabaeans sending from Aden "colonies and factories" to settle in India. Warmington observes that the Sabaeans of the Yemen had built up a prosperous and undisturbed trade with India and that they had grown immensely wealthy. India finds a place in the Himyarite inscriptions of the Yemen as a country exporting "fresh fruits" to the land of the Arabs. From the seventh century onwards there was a large and continuous influx of Arab merchants to the Western coast of India, where they were settled at various ports and married Indian women. In the beginning of the seventh century of the Christian era the Arabs were welded into a strong united nation with a centralised state under the Prophet of Islam. Stimulated by the vigorous and universal nature of his teachings, the Arabs started their movement of expansion with astounding rapidity. The military success of the Arabs not only brought them to the outskirts of India but also gave a tremendous impetus to their maritime trade. The first post-Islamic Arab expedition to the State of Bombay was the one despatched by ' Uthman b. Abu-l-Asath-Thaqafi, the Governor of Bahrain, to Thana a little after 636 A. C. The Caliph 'Umar, however, did not approve of the Governor's action and warned him not to repeat the experiment. The next expedition to the Bombay State took place between 640-645 A. C. It was organised by Hakam b. al-' As, the brother of ' Uthman ath-Thaqafi, and was directed against the then famous and flourishing port of Broach. During the first quarter of the 8th century after the conquest of Sind by the Arabs, Junayd ibn ' Abd ur-Rahman al-Murri, the * This Chapter is contributed by the late Dr. B. M. Tirmidhi, M.A., Ph.D. 456 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER Arab Governor of Sind, sent his lieutenants against several ports of Gujarat including Rander and Broach; while in the year 761 A. C. Hisham b. ' Amr at-Taghlibi the then Arab Governor of Sind, attacked in person Broach and Kandahar (a small village near Broach), and built a mosque which is supposed to be the first to be built in the State. There have been several Arab expeditions to the State including the important one during the time of Pulakeshi. When these expeditions ceased, the contact between the State and Arabia was kept up by several Arab and non-Arab travellers and geographers like Mas 'udi, Ibn Hawqal, Istakhri, Idrisi and several others. These geographers and travellers tell us about the social conditions then prevailing in the State, the religion of its people, their customs, their dress, the imports and exports, etc., of the State of Bombay. Mas 'udi' who visited this country in 915 A. C. informs us that no less than 10,000 Arabs had colonised themselves at Chaimur (near Bombay) and round about. He also speaks of the Arab colonisers at Cambay and other places. Ibn Hawqal remarks: "There are Jami' mosques at Famhal, Sirudan, Saymur and Cambay, all of which are strong and great cities and the Islamic precepts are openly observed. " It may be mentioned in passing that the Arabs were enamoured of Balahras and that they have lavished upon them praises for their justice and hospitality. Mu 'izz ud-Din Muhammad Sam Ghori and Qutb ud-Din Aybak made several inroads into the State but their attacks did not leave behind any lasting impression. It was when ' Ala-ud-Din Khilji finally conquered Gujarat and annexed it to the Muslim Empire in India, that Gujarat came to be administered by the Imperial Nazims. In the year 1407 A. C. owing to the weakening of the central authority, the Imperial Nazim declared his independence. Thus an independent Muslim kingdom was established for the first time in the State of Bombay. The rulers of this new kingdom, who traced their descent from the purely Indian stock, the brave Rajputs, were great patrons of learning and scholarship. In the galaxy of these patrons of learning the following stand out prominently: Ahmad Shah l, Mahmud Shah I, Muzaffar Shah II, and Bahadur Shah. They diligently applied themselves also to social reforms and gave much impetus to agriculture and industry. Architecture was highly developed and even at present Ahmedabad occupies an enviable position for its many magnificent specimens of architecture. It was during their regimes that the learned divines flocked to Ahmedabad and other places on the West coast of India from Arabia, Persia, and Egypt. Ahmedabad, particularly, became a great centre of learning throughout the Muslim world. Here were gathered together commentators, traditionists, jurists, speculative theologians, poets, historians, mathematicians, astronomers and others. The Sultans established academies and seminars for these persons to work and teach therein and adopted various measures to foster the study of Arabic and Islamic sciences. LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 457 MEDIAEVAL TIMES. One of the earliest scholars attracted by this literary patronage was ad-Damamini, an eminent Egyptian scholar and grammarian born at Alexandria. Damamini arrived at Ahmedabad in 1397 A. C. and kept himself occupied for some time in lecturing and other literary work in that city. It was at Ahmedabad that he composed most of his works and dedicated them to the then ruler of Gujarat. He wrote a number of books on grammar of which he was a great master. He is particularly known for a series of commentaries on the grammatical works of Ibn Malik. Al-'Uyun ul-Fakhira, Jawahir ul- Buhur, Kitab ul-Qawafi and al-Manhal us-Safi are some of his noteworthy compositions. Ad- Damamini has also epitomised the famous Zoological dictionary, Hayat ul-Hayawan of Damiri, under the name of 'Ayn ul-Hayat. It was dedicated to Sultan Ahmad Shah I (of Gujarat) to whose praises he had devoted a special section towards the end of the book. A portion of this section is reproduced by Haji Dabir (Vol. I, p. xiii). An equally illustrious contemporary of ad-Damamini was 'Ali-al-Mahaimi, a great commentator, philosopher and mystic. He could rightly be called "Ibn ul-Arabi of India". He belonged to the Nawait community, claiming descent from the Arabs. Al-Mahaimi is perhaps the greatest exponent of Ibn-ul-'Arabi's pantheistic philosophy in India and has written several commentaries on the Awarif of Shihab-u-din Suhrawardi. Ali al-Mahaimi is the author of several books but the important of them are:— Tabsir ur-Rahman, a commentary on the Holy Qur'an, is the masterpiece of al-Mahaimi. It chiefly discusses the subtle points concerning the natural connection between the verses of the Qur'an. In'am Malik il-'Allam, a book on the raison d' etre of Law is a pioneer work on this subject. Shah Waliyyullah's Hujiat ullah il-Baligha which is generally considered to be the first book on the subject was written nearly 300 years after al-Mahaimi wrote his In’am. He breathed his last in 835 A. H. at Mahim near Bombay where his shrine is still venerated. The all round influence of the Bukhari Sayyids of Ahmedabad is a well-known fact. The Bimbanis, a very distinguished family which produced some of the leading traditionists and foremost ministers of Gujarat were the spiritual disciples of the Bukhari Sayyids and it was in their seminary that they learnt the Hadith with great enthusiasm. Shaykh Sadar Ud-Din, a distinguished member of this family, evinced great interest in Arabic poetry, by writing commentaries on the Qasidat ul-Burdah, the Qasida of Ka'bub-Zuhayr, the Lamiyya of Qadi 'Abd ul-Muqtadir and the Qasidat ul-Amali. Besides some of his books on Arabic grammar, a commentary on the Holy Qur'an entitled the Bahrul-Ma'ani is recorded in the list of his works. His son Minhaj ud-Din Bimbani advocated Ibn 'Arabi's theory of Wahdat ul-Wujud in his commentary on the Fusus ul-Hikam. He has also commented upon the two famous canonical books of Hadith, viz., the Jami's Sahih of Bukhari and the Sahih of Muslim. Besides the Bimbanis, a large number of scholars received their training in the seminars conducted by the Bukhari Sayyid Divines, such as 458 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER Qutb-i-Alam, Shah. Alam, Maqbul-i-Alam, Maqsud-i-Alam and others, both intellectually and spiritually. Amongst members of this celebrated family the name of Shah 'Alam stands out very prominently. He is the author of about 36 treatises, some of which are named after the twelve Imams. All these treatises deal with various problems connected with mysticism. He used to deliver public lectures on Fridays. These lectures, noted for their erudition and learning, have been collected in seven volumes under the name of the Jumu'at-i-Shahiyya, by his great grandson Muhammad Maqbul. It was at the instance of Shah 'Alam that Shaykh 'Abd ul-Latif of Nahrwala composed his Zad ul' Ashiqin, about 1397.