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ROEWENGYAS IN ARAKAN By U Ba Tha
I wrote about Rakhaing Kaman Muslims, the descendants of Shah Shujah's followers in a previous article entitled "Shah Shujah in Arakan" which was published in this magazine Vol VI, No. 9 for the month of September 1959. Now I take great pleasure in writing about the Muslims who stepped into the soil of Arakan and settled in the country before Shah Shujah took refuge with the Arakanese king Sandathudamma (1652-1684) in 1660. History says that the early Muslims had entered Arakan firstly through its coastal parts and secondly through its mountain passes. They were all military races of Arabia and India. They came to Arakan as traders, missionaries, warriors and refugees. They were welcomed and well treated by their honesty, loyalty, bravery and the good services rendered by them. While the Arabs were masters of both Western and Eastern Waters they had found Arakan a suitable land for many purposes. Arakan, as history says it, became a developed and economical country establishing active commercial relations with Arab traders. Many historical edifices known as Badermakans are still found in Arakan. From the 8th to the 16th century Muslim influence was very strong and they controlled the maritime trade between the Persian Gulf and Indonesia, including Arakan. Ibn Khurdad Zabeh (844-8480, one of the Arab geographers, mentions Lower Burma under the name of Rahmanyadesa. The Arab missionaries and historians, Sulaiman (851 A.D.), Ibn Faquih (902 A.D.) named Arakan as Rahma while Ibn Batuta called it as Arcan which was corrupted from the Arabic original word "Al-recon", meaning discipline. Under the British Rule people wrote it as Arakan.
