Page 189 - DILMUN NO 20

Historical Links between lndia and the Gu‫ﺇ‬f

٠٩١٠,٨

Because of these combined factors, Arab merchants and sailors were
welcomed in lndia and left to settle, conduct business, contract marriage with
local women, build mosques, and preseve their own religion and traditions
freely, According to Nadvi, the lndian port towns which were mostly known
and preferred by traders from Arabia were Debal in Sind, Thana, Khambayal,
Sobara, and Jaimpur in Gujarat, and Kolam, Mali and Malabar in Madras. 22
The port towns in the Gulf from which these traders set off to lndia includde
Suhar and Hormuz in Oman, Oatif, Darin, and Hajr in the present Saudi
Eastern Province, Ubullah in lraa, and Awal (Bahrain). 23

Attempts by Muslim Arabs to annex Sind to their empire began first during the
reign of the pious Caliph Omar lbn Akhattab, when his governor of Bahrain
and Oman sent two armies to conquer Behruch (Gujarat) and Debal (near the
present Karachi), This was followed by other unsuccessful campaigns until
711 A٠D. in which Muhammed Ibn Alqasim successfully conquered Sind.
Historical records tell us that one of the factors behind lbn Alqasim's success
was the reinforcements he received by sea across the Gulf, particularly the
siege artillery.

The unification of the lndian Ocean and Eastern Mediterranean by the
Muslim Arab pushed lndo-Gulf commercial links further enabling hte
merchants of Yemen, Hijaz, Oman, and Bahrain to monopolize lal
commercial intercourse with lndia. As a result, small colonies of Arab sailors
along lndia‫ﻴ‬s western and southern coasts became more noticeable. The
development also resulted in directing many Gulf merchants towards lndia for
the purpose of building their commercial ships there considering lndia's rich
resource of Segwan or Teak wood and its advanced methods of vessel
construction. This probably explains the resemblance between traditional
lndian and Arabian ships. ١n this context, Chaudhuri wrote: "lt is possible htat
the Arab boom or the lndian Dhangi, was originally designed and built in the
shipyards of Malabar,onkan,and Gujarat'. 24

Associated with the grow0hof mercantile activities between lndia and the Gulf
region in the wake of the conquest of Sind, "the Arab Dinar by the 10th
centuyr was the only coin commonly used throughout the lndian Ocean". 25
Moreover, indian traders, who were mostly non-Muslims, ser‫ق‬ed as bankers
and money-lenders to Arab merchants at the major ports of Arabia as the
latter were not allowed by lslamic teachings to practise usu,yr 26