The early Muhammadan missionaries
This short note by R. O. Winstedt supplements his earlier paper in Journal 77 on the advent of Muhammadanism in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, drawing on Snouck Hurgronje’s lecture Arabie en Oost-Indie (Leyden) to refine the picture of early Islamic missionary activity in the region.
Winstedt’s central point is that while a few stray Arabs visited the Malay world, the bulk of Muhammadan missionaries were Indian, natives of Gujerat and Malabar (p. 5). He offers local corroborative evidence, including a reference to the Sharif of Mecca travelling to India to remind the Great Mogul of tithes due to the Holy City, and learning from Indian friends that Acheen was a Muhammadan kingdom (p. 6). A Malay verse—“Serban Kashmiri warna hijau, Buatan Arab di-negeri Makkah”—is cited as an instance of Malay conflation of origins. Winstedt concludes that direct Arab influence made itself felt strongly only after steam-ships had made voyages easy (p. 6).