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Islam in Myanmar
By WIKIPEDIA
Islam is a minority religion in Myanmar, practiced by about 4.15% of the population, according to the 2008 Myanmar official statistics. In the early Bagan era (AD 652-660), Arab Muslim merchants landed at ports such as Thaton and Martaban. Arab Muslim ships sailed from Madagascar to China, often going in and out of Burma. Arab travelers visited the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal south of Burma. The Muslims arrived in Burma’s Ayeyarwady River delta, on the Tanintharyi coast and in Rakhine in the 9th century, prior to the establishment of the first Burmese empire in 1055 AD by King Anawrahta of Bagan. The sea posts of Burma such as Kyaukpyu, Bassein, Syriam, Martaban, Mergui, etc. are rife with the legendary accounts of early shipwrecks in their neighbourhood: of Kular shipwrecked sailors, traders and soldiers.
At first Muslims arrived on the Arakan coast and moved into the upward hinterland to Maungdaw. The time when the Muslims arrived in Burma and in Arakan and Maungdaw is uncertain. These early Muslim settlements and the propagation of Islam were documented by Arab, Persian, European and Chinese travelers of the 9th century. Burmese Muslims are the descendants of Muslim peoples who settled and intermarried with the local Burmese ethnic groups. Muslims arrived in Burma as traders orsettlers, military personnel, and prisoners of war, refugees, and as victims of slavery.
However, many early Muslims also as saying goes held positions of status as royal advisers, royal administrators, port authorities, mayors, and traditional medicine men. The broadminded King Mindon of Mandalay, Burma permitted the Chinese Muslims known as Panthays to build a mosque in the capital, Mandalay. The Panthays of Mandalay requested donations from the Sultan Sulaiman of Yunnan. The Sultan agreed to finance the Mosque and sent his Colonel Mah Tootu in 1868 to supervise the project. The Mosque, which is still standing, constitutes a historic landmark. It signifies the beginning of the first Panthay Jama’at (Congregation) in Mandalay Ratanabon Naypyidaw.
Persian Muslims arrived in northern Burma on the border with the Chinese region of Yunnan as recorded in the Chronicles of China in 860 AD. Burma’s contacts with Islam via Yunnan thus go back to Sai-tien-ch’th ( Shamsuddin), State councillor of Yunnan and his family. (1274-1279).[20] His son Na-su-la-ting ( Nasiruddin) was the commander of first Mongol invasion of Burma. Burmese Muslims were sometimes called Pathi, a name believed to be derived from Persian. Many settlements in the southern region near present-day Thailand were noted for the Muslim populations, in which Muslims often outnumbered the local Buddhists. In one record, Pathein was said to be populated with Pathis, and was ruled by three Indian Muslim Kings in the 13th century. Arab merchants also arrived in Martaban, Mergui, and there were Arab settlements in the present Myeik archipelago’s mid-western quarters.
The first Muslims had landed in Myanmar (Burma’s) Ayeyarwady River delta, Tanintharyi coast and Rakhine as seamen in the 9th century, prior to the establishment of the first Myanmar (Burmese) empire in 1055 AD by King Anawrahta of Bagan or Pagan. The dawn of the Muslim settlements and the propagation of Islam was widely documented by the Arab, Persian, European and Chinese travellers of the 9th century.
The Kingdom of Ava attacked Arakan in 1404 A.D. Burmese General Minyekyawswa ousted the Arakin king Narameikhla. This attack paved the way for the Muslim domination of Arakan for a century. (1430-1531) Narameikhla fled to Bengal and took asylum at the court of the Sultan of Gaur. He was reinstated as King of Arakan with the military assistance of the Sultan.[31] The king founded the new capital, Myauk-U. The Muslim army who helped him retake the kingdom settled down there. They built the Sandi Khan mosque at the village of Kawalaung. With the return of Naramitlha began the Muslim domination of Arakan. According to the New Chronicle of Arakan, (Rakhine Rajawan Sac), to get the military assistance, Naramitlha had to surrender the twelve towns of Bhanga (Bengal) over which Arakan previously claimed suzerainty, to Sultan of Bengal and also had to agree to be feudatory to Bengal. Arakan thus remained to be a subject state of Bengal for a century (1430-1530); Bengal Sultans conferred Muslim titles on the kings of Arakan. There were eighteen Arakan kings with Muslim titles.
Some coins or medallions bearing the kalimah (the Islamic confession of faith) and the name of the four khalifs of Islam in Arabic were discovered in Arakan. The tragic episode of the flight of Prince Shah Shuja the son of Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan (builder of the famous Taj Mahal) to Arakan in 1660 A.D. was one of the most important events in the history of Arakan of Burmas’ contacts with Islam. King Sandathudamma (1625-1648) first granted the Prince asylum from his brother Aurunzip who defeated him but later attacked after he tried to escape, allegedly after a failed rebellion. He escaped but his two sons and some soldiers were executed. The rest were treated to the water of allegiance and employed as Royal Archers and are the ancestors of present Muslim Kamans. The new governor of Bengal, Shayista Khan, attacked and took back the Arakan’s Chittagong, Ramu, East Bangal, Sandwip, Dianga and up to the Naff river was annexed to Bengal. After the death of King Sandathudamma in 1684 A.D. the Muslim Kamans (the Royal Archers of the Guard) became very powerful and became the ”King Makers” of the Arakan thrones. They were survived soldiers of Prince Shuja reinforced by the fresh soldiers from India. They set up kings, deposed them and created new once as they like. Kamans dominated Arakan from 1684 to 1710. The current population of Myanmar Muslims are the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indian-Muslims, sheikhs, Pakistanis, Pathans, Bengalis, Chinese Muslims and Malays who settled and intermarried with local Burmese and many ethnic Myanmar groups such as, Rakhine, Shan, Karen, Mon etc.
