Stories from Islamic History

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Stories from Islamic History Page 11

by Nayab Naseer


  “There you go, you rogue, putting words into my mouth. When did we say we cannot supplicate to Allah? And there are innumerable hadeeths which allow us to ask Allah through pious intermediateries. A man who was lost in the forest exclaimed, O servants of Allah, help me…”

  He did not get to complete his speech. A sharp rock hit him on the head, and soon it was a free for all fight.

  ***

  The Padri War lasted from 1236 AH to 1252 AH (1821 CE to 1837 CE) and arose from a movement among the Minangkabau people of the central western coast of Sumatra to both purify Islamic practice and resist colonial rule.

  Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahab’s dawah was by no means confined to the Arabian deserts. The pilgrims who visited Makkah and Madinah brought back ideas to “purify” the faith. In the Malaya island, this purification involved eschewing traditional synergetic folk beliefs, gambling, drinking and drug taking. This movement soon came to be called the Padri movement, named after Padir, the point of disembarkation of hajj pilgrims.

  The Padris first focused on social evils such as drinking and gambling, and as such gained mass acceptance in a short span of time. Trouble started when they sought to end the matrilineal traditions of the land. Though the Minangkabau people were Muslim, the social structure was matrilineal and highly decentralized. The raja held sway at Pagaruyung but it was the panghulus, the village chiefs, who held real power based on the social structure. As more and more people were attracted to the movement, many of the panghulus, whose survival depended on continuing with the traditional beliefs and systems, spearheaded the opposition.

  The Padris declared a jihad, and surprisingly, met with remarkable success. The decisive encounter took place in 1230 AH (1815 CE), not ending until most of the members of the royalty was killed. The raja himself was put to flight, barely escaping with his life.

  The success of the Padris was however by no means an accident.

  During this time Napoleon Bonaparte was causing a lot of European monarchs to loose sleep. The Dutch, who held Indonesia under their sway, were too worried to lend a helping hand to their ally – the raja, and this allowed the Padris a level playing field. The Dutch soon gave Indonesia away to the English, least Napoleon convert Holland itself into a province of France and thereby extend his influence to Indonesia by default.

  For Sir Stamford Raffles, the head of British interregnum in the ‘Dutch East Indies,’ the Padri War was godsend. Things could not be better. The natives were killing each other while he could enjoy his cup of evening tea, golf and late night balls in serenity, all the while robbing the land dry of its resources.

  Following the battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon was packed off to Elba, the Dutch returned to Indonesia in 1234 AH (1819 CE). No sooner had they settled down than they became alarmed at the influence the Padris had acquired while they were away. The fugitive raja, an old friend of the Dutch rubbed his hand in glee and threw in his lot with them.

  War broke out in 1236 AH (1821 CE). But what man wills, Allah disposes. The Dutch huffed, puffed and cannoned, but the Padris, under their leader Tuanku Imam Bonjol stood firm. The ex-raja, by aligning with the Dutch against his own people lost whatever little legitimacy that remained in the eyes of the populace. In any case the Dutch refused point blank to reinstate him in the places they controlled. They instead signed the Massang treaty with the Padris in 1239 AH (1824 CE).

  The Padris utilized the peace to spread their dawah. If each individual could change, the land, being a sum of all individuals would change automatically after all. When the Dutch found exactly this happening, they got even more alarmed. In 1242 AH (1832 CE) they violated the treaty to attack Pandai Sikat. Hostilities were resumed, and in the face of superior firepower, this time Imam Bonjol was captured.

  ***

  “Make sure the bugger does not escape” the Dutch captain told the Adats who guarded Imam Bonjol’s cage.

  “Don’t worry. My men are taking turns to guard round the clock. Even if by some miracle he manages to overcome us, your troops are not too far off” the leader of the Adats replied.

  “Yes, but our men will have backs turned to him. We have to be on the lookout for any attempts by his followers to rescue him” the Dutch captain replied before walking off.

  Imam Bonjol was privy to this conversation but his face showed no sign of tension or anxiety about his fate.

  It took some time, but Imam Bonjol knew it would eventually come. One of the Adat guard came in, untied his bonds and wept for forgiveness.

  “Forgive me. It is our imams. They threaten to castigate our wives and mothers as witches and burn them if we don’t support them. My heart is burdened for the thought of standing guard for the enemy against a true believer. Shall we fight our way out? I hope to atone for my sins through martyrdom.”

  Imam Bonjol remained calm. He said: “There is no need to fight. You go back to your post and somehow distract the others.”

  The guard went some distance, took a pipe, went some distance further and gave a shrill sound. The guards, all in half slumber, woke up and instinctively ran to the source of the sound.

  Imam Bonjol calmly walked away, and before the sun set the next day, he was back as the ruler of Bonjol.

  The guard who had helped Imam Bonjol escape arrived his court.

  “How did you skip the Dutch guards?” he asked

  “Wa-itha qara ta alqur-anaja alna baynaka wabayna allatheena layu minoona bil-akhirati hijaban mastoora” (Quran, Sura 17:45)

  When Prophet Mohammed, may Allah bless him and grant him peace was threatened by Abu Jahl’s wife, he recited this ayah and became invisible. This ayah is a shield for a believer in true Islamic monotheism against his enemy!

  All the superior firepower and hostilities notwithstanding, it took another ten years, in 1252 AH (1837 CE) before the Dutch could gain enough strength to siege Bonjol.

  The Dutch called Imam Bonjol for negotiations, promising safe conduct. Bonjol was naïve enough to accept it. No sooner had he entered the negotiation hall than he was trapped, and it was even sooner he was exiled to Cianjur. The city of Bonjol was razed to the ground.

  Tuanku Imam Bonjol died in exile in 1280 AH (1864 CE). In the absence of a strong leader, political resistance gradually frittered away.

  Though political hegemony ended the back of the tribal superstitions and control remained broken. The people went overwhelmingly for Islamic monotheism, totally sidelining the tribal leaders. Soon they themselves came forward to promulgate "adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah" (tradition founded upon Islamic law, Islamic law founded upon the Quran)

  THE NEW WORLD ORDER

  Musa ibn Nusayr, the great Umayyad conqueror set out from Cairo in 87 AH (706 CE) with the aim of bringing the entire African lands bordering the Mediterranean under the khilafat. Having reached the African end of the Atlantic, he drove up to the sea, and striking his sword said “Oh Allah, were I not hindered by this great sea, I would have gone on and brought the unknown lands of the west to follow thee.”

  That was not the end of it. Many travelers and traders since then made many expeditions to the “New World” centuries before Columbus was born.

  During the rule of Umayyad kalifah of Spain Abdullah Ibn Mohammed (274-289 AH / 888 - 912 CE), the navigator Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad of Cordoba sailed from Delba (Palos), crossed the Atlantic into the “ocean of darkness and fog,” reached an unknown territory (Ard Majhoola) and returned with fabulous treasures from “a strange and curious land.” In Al-Masudi's map of the world, drawn up during the same time a large area in the ocean of darkness and fog (the Atlantic Ocean) is referred to as the unknown territory (the Americas.)

  Hisham II of Spain (365-399 AH / 976 -1009 CE), patronized Ibn Farrukh of Granada, who sailed from Kadesh into the Atlantic. He landed in Gando (Great Canary Islands), met King Guanariga and continued westward where he saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana. He arrived back in Spain in Jumadhul Akhir 389 AH (May 999 CE.)
/>   Even outside of Spain, contacts with the Americas were frequent.

  Sheikh Zaynuddin Ali bin Fadhl Al-Mazandarani started from Tarfay in Morocco during the reign of the Marinid sultan Abu-Yacoub Sidi Youssef (685-706 AH / 1286-1307 CE). He reached the islands of the Caribbean Sea in 690 AH (1291 CE.)

  Sultan Mansa Kankan Musa of Mali (712-737 AH / 1312-1337 CE), made his famous hajj in 724 AH (1324 CE); famous for giving away so much gold that he depressed the market. When he reached Cairo, the Mamlukes asked how he became sultan, for according to their knowledge, his brother Abu Bakri I was the sultan of Mali. It transpired that Abu Bakari I had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean. When he did not return to Timbuktu from the second voyage in 711 AH, Mansa Musa became sultan.

  It is not that the expeditions were just that. Just like in South India and the South East Asian islands, Muslims settled in these new lands, established communities and led an active social life.

  Following the “reconquisita” or the Christian takeover of Spain and Portugal, Ferdinand and his successors also took over the active interface Moors maintained with the Americas. Very soon the likes of Columbus and Malegan replaced the likes of Sheikh Zainuddin and Abu Bakri.

  Columbus was guided by two captains during his first transatlantic voyage. Martin Alonso Pinzon was the captain of the ship Pinta, and his brother Vicente Yanex Pinzon was the captain of the ship Nina. The Pinzon’s were wealthy and expert ship outfitters related to the sultan of Morocco Abuzayan Mohammed III (764-768 AH / 1362-1366 CE), and had taken up Christian names to escape the inquisition.

  Columbus landed at Gomera (Canary Islands) in Jumadhul Akhir 906 AH (November 1500 CE.) Gomera is an Arabic word meaning ‘small firebrand.’ There he fell in love with Beatriz Bobadilla, daughter of the General of the island. The Bobadilla family was descent from the Abbadid dynasty of Seville (422-484 AH / 1031-1091 CE), having fled Spain earlier when the lost power. Inquisition or not, they were not easy to ignore or slight due to their clout. Another Bobadilla - Francisco, the royal commissioner of the island put Columbus in chains and send him back to Spain.

  Columbus himself declares that the Caribbean people are Muslims. He notes sighting a masjid on top of a mountain while sailing near Gibara on the north-east coast of Cuba. Today, ruins of masjids and minarets with inscriptions of Quranic verses are still found in Cuba, Mexico, Texas and Nevada.

  During Columbus’ second voyage, he was told by the Haitians that Black people had already been to the island, and presented Columbus with spears used by African Muslims. These weapons were tipped with a yellow metal that the natives called ‘Guanine,’ a word of West African derivation meaning ‘gold alloy.’ Oddly enough, this word is related to the Arabic world ‘Ghinaa’ meaning ‘wealth.’ Columbus brought some Guanines back to Spain and had them tested. The metal was eighteen parts gold, six parts silver and eight parts copper, the same ratio as was produced in the metal shops of African Guinea.

  ***

  The Muslims who had come to the Americas for married amongst the natives and led an active social and community life. Columbus and co., had an entirely different set of objectives altogether. Their aim was to plunder the resources of the land. They preoccupied themselves with cultivating rice, picking tobacco and combing through cotton – all for shipping to Spain.

  The first strategy was to deploy natives for the hard work. But such was the exploitation that they invariably died within a few days. A priest by the name of Bartholomew De Las Casas now had a brainwave. He convinced the authorities to import Africans as they were strong and immune to diseases.

  ***

  By the early 9th hijri century (15th century CE,) the Mali Empire was in decline. Disputes over succession weakened the crown and many principalities broke away. Songhai was one such break-away state, with Gao their capital.

  The most noteworthy king of Songhay was Askia Mohammed. He provided Mali with a stable and efficient government, and with the support of the scholars, religious leaders and traders made Songhay a great trading empire and Timbuktu a fabled center of Islamic scholarship and learning.

  Leo Africanus, the famous traveler who visited Timbuktu during this time writes: "In Timbuktu there are numerous judges, doctors and clerics, all receiving good salaries from the king. He pays great respect to men of learning. There is a big demand for books in manuscript, imported from Barbary. More profit is made from book trade than from any line of business."

  However, nothing lasts forever, except the face of Allah. The golden age of Timbuktu and the economic prosperity of the West African Songhai Empire were also bound to end one day.

  Here civil war led to the decline, with the Battle of Tondibi in 999 AH (1591 CE,) when the Songhai forces were routed by the Moroccans triggering the fall. The Moroccans found this huge West African territory spread over deserts too hard to administer efficiently, and as such relinquished control of the region, letting it splinter into dozens of small states that fought among themselves. In times like this trade was the first causality, intellectual activities the second and when these two fell off, religion soon followed.

  The imperialists were by now in Morocco and other parts of Costal Africa and waiting – not just for the goldfields of the Niger River, but now also for slaves for use in the Americas. The Portuguese sent African tribes such as the Ashanti to capture other Africans. These slave-catching tribes traded their fellow Africans with the Portuguese for pots, pans, guns, and alcohol.

  Hitherto the way of trade in Western Africa had been julla (merchants) forming partnerships with the local community. As long as the state was powerful, it would protect both the merchants and the locals from perfidy. But with the Songhay state no more, trade and commerce soon came into the hands of the imperialists. Salt was precious in the region, and the order of trade was changed so that gold treaded for equal quantities in salt.

  ***

  Most of the people worked on their small farms no more than ten acres, and lived clustered in villages. It was in one such farm and village that El Nigger worked and lived. One somber night El Nigger completed his thajjahhud and prepared to sleep, The dense jungles and mountains surrounding the village gave him the notion all’s well that would end well.

  Next morning, barely had El Nigger had opened his eyes than he found himself dragged out to the field, where most of the other villagers were also standing, bound in chains and stark naked. El Nigger soon found himself in the same plight. When he saw his wife and infant being dragged across, he couldn’t restrain himself, but the chains were too tight. When he saw his infant being crushed to death in the rock, he broke into a delirious rage, but that was all he could do before being bayoneted unconscious.

  What followed was a month long trek along the jungle path, without food, without rest, having to defecate while walking. Then suddenly, one day the dense jungle abruptly gave to the vast sea.

  El Nigger had heard people disappearing from villages, to be taken by giant monsters that came from the sea. His heart sank at the realization it was now his turn.

  El Nigger remembered having spent about ten weeks in that horrendous boat. For most part he was rowing, and when momentum slackened, was whipped mercilessly. Nearly half of those who had accompanied him were dead. Having tasted land once again, even though it was a strange, strange land, he remembered the muzzein’s call and the congregational prayers he used to partake regularly in his village.

  It was the first time in ages the iron manacles were being removed from him. He didn’t know the direction to Makkah, but nevertheless raised his hand to say “Allahu Akbar”. No sooner had he said that he received a violent kick that send him reeling forward, breaking his two front teeth in the process.

  He was dragged all the way to what was presumably the governor’s shed. “Listen you nigger. From today onwards you don’t have a past. Your new name is Malcom, and slaves don’t have a religion.”

  A couple of days later, he was put in a cart, and transported, through a cou
ntry full of huge mountains, gorges and lakes, until he reached what was a big vast plan.

  Twice more did El Nigger try to offer prayers, but the treatment was so brutal that he resolved never to do it again. Speaking Arabic met with similar punishment. Inside the encampment they taught him a strange new language.

  After some days he learned enough to survive.

  Gradually El Nigger got accustomed to his life as a slave, and gradually he got more and more personal space. After the hard day long toil in the fields he was left alone for the night. He still longed for his wife, but knew that finding her was now impossible. There were girls in his encampment, and El Nigger, following his natural instinct just started sleeping with the one he liked.

  Thus life went on.

  ***

  The “slave breaking tradition” ended Islam among the African slaves. The Muslims who had reached America before the slaves, as traders were not too fortunate either. In 945 AH (1539 CE) Charles V, king of Spain, forbade the Muslims to migrate to the West Indies, and followed this up with an order to expel all Muslims from overseas Spanish colonies by 949 AH (1543 CE). Those weak in faith found it expedient to convert. Those with faith remembered what Allah commanded the children of Israel – ‘since you cannot bear the hardships and tyranny of the Pharaoh, migrate to Palestine.’ This they applied to their own lives and proceeded northward to what is now United States of America.

  In the Inyo county of California, there is an inscription that states "Yasus bin Maria" meaning "Jesus, son of Mary". This is not a Christian phrase, but a phrase from the Quran.

 

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