TWO LETTERS FROM THE MAHARAJA TO THE KHALIFAH

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Insular India to. Mu'zwiyah (411661-611680). and Hsin T'ang Shu's story of the Arab ruler's intention (in about 674 A.C.) of invading Kha-lang. an important state in Nan-yang (South Seas), show the farthest extent of Muslim political ambitions and diplomatic activities in the first century of the Hijrah. They also demonstrate the strength of their newly formed navy. The resx,~nding victories won by their Mediterranean-based western fleet against the mightiest naval power of those times is not unknown.@The above two reports coming from two opposite directions give us a glimpse of their hitherto elusive eastern fleet, which must have been based in their home-waters of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. But the spread of Islam was not at all concomitant with the expansion of Arabs' political power and the growth of their armed strength. The apostasy of Rslja Jay Siva (or Jay Sinha) of Sind, in 10717%. and the apparent failure of the attempt made by MahSrsljB Srindravarman. in 991718. to spread Islam in his fabulously rich dominions of Sri Vijaya. show the weakness of Muslim missionary activities. The two letters, in spite of their gross inadequacies. tell us quite a bit about the early history of the Muslims-their victories as well as their failures. The present study of these two letters is still more inadequate. But it is hoped that these very shortcomings will arouse enough interest among the scholars of Islam, and of Southeast Asia, to pull the history of Islam in the East out of the quagmire of insolent indifference. Up till now Islamic history has meant the history of Muslim kings building empires over the territories west of the Bay of Bengal. The meeker Muslims living east of this tempestuous bay, numbering more than one-third of the total Muslim population of the world. and having the proud possession of such lands as the eastern wing of Pakistan, the Malayan Peninsula and the Indonesian Archipelago, which are destined to play increasingly important r61e in the world of to- morrow, are up till now forgotten by the historian and sxiologist of Islam, and forsaken. This lop-sided view of Islamic history (and sociolog~) has lasted too long. It has to come to an end. The sooner it comes the better it will be.
LETTERS FROM THE MAHARAJA TO THE - KHAL~FAH 13? NOTES 1. Al-Jahi?. Kitiib al-Hayariin. ed. 'Abd al-Salam M$ammad HarJn. VII: 113 (Cairo, 1344-1358 A.H.). The text has 4 1 (al-Sin) instead of 41 (al-Hind). which is obviously the copyist's mistake. See Section V of this paper for further arguments on the subjzct. 2. Ibn al-Nadim. Kitiib al-Fihrist. 145. (Cairo. 1348 A.H ); Yaqiit. Ir&d al-Arfb ilii Ma'rifat al-Adib, ed. D. S. Margoliouth. VII ; 261-266 (Gibb Memorial Series, VII, 1926) : Ibn Qallikan. Wafayzt al-A'yiin, ed. Muhammad Muhy al-Din 'Abd al-Hamid. V : 357-165. (Cairo. 1948) : Rosenthal. F.. A History of Muslim Historiography. 62-64. (Leyden. 1952) ; 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Dtiri. BahJ fi Naaah 'Ilm al-Ta'ri& 'rnd al-'Arab. 42. (Beirbt. 1960). 3. Al-Dijlsbi. Muhammad b. Ahmad. Kitcib al.Kunii wa 'I-Asmii'. 11. 158. (Hyderabad. 1322 A.H.) : Ibn Hajar. Tahaib al-Tahaib, I : 221-222. (Hyderbad, 1325 A.H.). 4 Ibn Sa'd. al-Tabaqiit al-Kubrii. V1: 315-316. (Beirut. 1957) ; al-mahabi, Ta&hirat al- HuffZ?;. I : 135. (Hyderabad. 1955). 5. Kitiib 'Ajii'ib al-Hind. Livre des merveilles de 1 'Inde par le capitaine Bozorg bin Sahriyar de Ramhormoz, trads. Marcel Devic. Arabic text ed. P.A. van der Lith, (Leyden. 1883-86). 6. Al-Maqdisi. Kitiib al-Bad' wa 'I-Ta'ri&, ed. M. C1. Huart, IV : 63, (Paris. 1907). (a) Qa&mir, or Quhmir, or Qishmir &.i should not be confused with im homonym. Ka&mir (also written as Qa&mir in Arab geographical literature), the famous valley in the Himalayas. In the present context it appears to be a metathesis of Chamorris or Kamor~is. which was the title of the ancient chiefs of the Philippine Islands. (vide Pigafetta's Memoirs in A Htstory of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean. by James Burney. 111: 281. London. 1803). Hamd Allah Mustawfi describing the WBqwHq islands says. .is(_); & IJ L 3T J.&JQ (The king of that country is known by the name of Kahmir). Nuzhat al-QulZb, ed. and trans. G. Le Strange. 222, 229. GMS XXIII. I and I& 1915 and 1919. The identification of al-Waqweq. the Arab El Dorado. needs a thorough research ; and the present writer will shortly publish the resuits of his own investigations on this vexed question However, it can be safely surmised here that the Philippine Islands formed a part of this Arab El Dorado. In a long list of royal titles Ibn fiurrad~abih (op. cit.. 18) has one Qa&miran &ah o k dl&-, which is probably the same Kamorris. Al-Dimahqi has a statement in his valuable book on Cosmo- graphy. Kitiib Nu&bat al-Dahr fi 'A jii'ab abBaw wa'l-Bahrz. (ed. M. Fraehn and M. A. F. Mehren. Leipzig. 1923 ; French translation by M. A. F. Mehren. Copenhagen. 1874), which can help us in identifying this toponym with a certain degree of certitude. Among "the remoter islands of the Southern Encircling Ocean h+dl A, lying beyond the equator rl+)'l h; 3 &I l.i&l&4", he includes "the island of
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TWO LETTERS FROM THE MAHARAJA TO THE KHALIFAH

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