A Subcontinent Apart:
Cross-Cultural Interactions Between
India and the Muslim World During the Abbasid Era
ETHAN SYMONS-FERRARO

Mountains and rivers mark the boundary between the Indian subcontinent and the
rest of Asia. During the Abbasid era, economic activity flourished in India’s port
cities since Muslims sought works that could not be found in the Islamic world.
Culture was not the only thing influenced by India’s relationship with Muslim
nations. The Muslims’ influence can be observed in the Urdu language, a
composite of Persian, Turkish, Arabic, and multiple Indian dialects, and traditional
Hindu temples that display Persian and Arabic influences in their architecture.

Rivers and mountain ranges mark the boundary between the Indian subcontinent
and the rest of Asia; creating a cradle for a cultural and ethnic population distinct
from the nations that surrounds it. While there had been many forays into India by
the great empires of the Classical era, with both pre-Achaemenid Persia and the
Macedonians under Alexander holding territory in northern India for brief periods
of time, 1 India has always been Asia’s unreachable prize ⸺ with mountains,
climate, or strength of arms repelling would-be conquerors. 2
Despite India’s relative isolation it still managed to spread its influence beyond its
borders with sea-based trade routes reaching as far as Borneo and Java. 3 The
Indians’ outward reach expanded greatly from the 8th century as Hinduism spread
across the subcontinent, and the cities became economic hubs. Large numbers of
the rural population migrated to cities built around great temples, leading to a rapid
wave of urbanization. This was also an era of relative peace between the Indian
kingdoms, allowing the people living in the Indian subcontinent to focus on
1

Farrokh, Shadows in the Desert, 20.
Ali, Islam in India, 56.
3
Bennison, The Great Caliphs, 6.
2

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economic growth and trade. 4 This flourishing period in India’s history coincided
with the peak of the Islamic Golden Age, during which time the Caliphate under
the Abbasids sought works and teachings not found in the Islamic wold so that they
could be translated in Bagdad. 5 Thus, interaction between the Caliphate and India
was inevitable, especially with the Caliphate’s dominating trade in the Indian
Ocean and the Silk Road. The question is: what form did it take, and how did these
interactions shape the two cultures?
To fully understand the relationship between India and the Caliphate, one must
examine the history the two powers shared, both in the form of Indo-Arab relations
prior to the rise of the Caliphate, and the cultural and economic ties between India
and Sasanian Persia which the Caliphate inherited from conquering Iraq and Iran. 6
An examination of the Muslim-held Sindh region of India, modern-day Pakistan,
will also be held for a view of a more direct, forceful melding of the two cultures.
The first subject is difficult to fully examine since written records of pre-Islamic
Arabia are rare. That said, the mercantile networks of old Arabia were welldocumented ⸺ with trading centers built throughout the desert, 7 linked by caravan
routes to transport goods the coastal settlements brought from across the peninsula.
Between legitimate trade and inter-tribal raiding and banditry, goods from abroad
could change hands multiple times and cross the entire peninsula. This system
would be the forerunner for the later Caliphate, which was built on a very urban
basis in comparison to previous civilizations in the region so that they could
encourage a steady flow of goods across the vast empire. This trade network also
facilitated the flow of culture and ideas. However, migration to the peninsula was
scarce in frequency and number, leaving the inland areas of the peninsula isolated. 8
The tribal culture of early Arabia was built along its own lines, with the foreign
influences that would shape Arab culture and fascinate the Muslim scholars of the
Caliphate in later years.
The Abbasids are featured more prominently in written works that concern the
Indian-Persian cultural ties that where present during this era. Their capital,
Baghdad, was built in the ancient Persian heartland to provide easy access to India’s
ports. 9 The advisor to the early Abbasid caliph, Al-Mansur, even used the prospect
of trade with India as a selling point when the new capital’s location was being
decided; highlighting the benefits the merchants of India could bring to their

4

Friedmann, Islam in Asia, 31.
Bennison, 183.
6
Farrokh, 287.
7
Bennison, 4.
8
Bennison, 6.
9
Weit, Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate, 10.
5

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western neighbors. 10 It is unsurprising that the Abbasids strove to maintain a close
relation with India since the Abbasid dynasty were heavily influenced by the
Persians ⸺ they did, after all, occupy traditional Persian territory. This continuity
with the fallen Sasanian Empire brought with it control over Sasanian trade
networks of which India was an integral part. The Sasanians even kept large
numbers of Indian elephants and mercenaries as part of their core army, 11 indicative
of the close relations between the two civilizations. Supporting this hypothesis are
the works of al-Jahiz, a prominent writer during the early Abbasid period. He was
widely travelled and wrote at length about the people of India, casting them in a
positive light and showing a great deal of curiosity towards Hinduism. 12
While India certainly captured the imaginations of the Muslims, the subcontinent
still remained a distant and nebulous concept to those living in the Muslim world.
On the other hand, Indo-Islamic interactions were a more immediate and relevant
concern for those living in India. In the early days of Islam ⸺ even as early as the
days of the Prophet ⸺ Islam was finding converts among the lower classes who
saw its message of equality as an escape from the caste system. Kerala, in
particular, became a center for conversion since it had a sizeable population of Arab
merchants and was in close proximity to the coastal cities of Arabia. 13 The Islamic
influence in this region is most prominent in building. Traditional Hindu temples
⸺ as well as government and secular buildings ⸺ display a mixture of Persian and
Arabic influences in their designs and architecture. 14
In northern India, interactions took a different form since the expansionistic
Umayyads defeated Rajah Dahir, and carved out a sizeable portion of territory in
the Indus Valley and the Sindh region prior to the Abbasid conquest. Though Dahir
was unpopular among his subjects, the fact remains that Islam was first introduced
to the Hindus by invading armies. In addition, in Kerala and Rashtrakuta, Muslims
were a minority under Hindu rule. In Sindh, they were the ruling minority with
primarily Hindu subjects, leading to a very different power dynamic. Under
Muslim rule, the Christians and Jews in the Middle East and Spain were protected
by the dhimma; while the Hindus were not since they were identified as pagans and
idol-worshippers by mainstream Islamic theologians. 15 However, this soon
changed when the need to maintain political and social stability arose. The Hindus
were given the same protection that People of the Book enjoyed, this eventually led
to the poll tax being waived under the sultan of Delhi. This is likely because the
Hindus, previously the ruling majority, would have been less accepting of
10

Kennedy, When Baghdad Ruled the Muslim World, 133.
Farrokh, 77.
12
Ali, 11.
13
Ali, 53.
14
Friedmann, 149.
15
Ali, 11.
11

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secondary status than Coptic Christians or Jews who have already experienced
religious persecution under the Byzantines. 16 Under the Muslims’ rule, northern
India came to be a center for cultural exchange and fusion between Asia, India and
the Muslim world. This synthesis of civilizations can still be observed in the Urdu
language ⸺ a composite of Persian, Turkish, Arabic and multiple Indian dialects
⸺ and the Sikh faith, a religion originating from Muslim-held Punjab in the 15th
century and demonstrates many close connections to Sufism. 17 This hybrid culture,
or Ganga-Jamuni tehzib, served to bring the two peoples together in a region that
might have otherwise fractured from internal struggle. In the last years of the
Abbasid era, as the Abbasids lost power to their regional sultans and slave soldiers,
while the Mongols ravaged Iran, northern India underwent a cultural renaissance
rivalling that of Egypt, beating back the Mongol invasions and building an enduring
legacy. 18 The Mamluk Sultanate of Delhi, the Mughals, and modern-day Pakistan
were built on the foundations laid during the Abbasid reign in Al-Sindh.
The last and most important factor that contributed to Islam’s spread to India were
the Sufis. While it is true that there were limited conversions to Islam in Kerala,
and northern India began very early in Islam’s history; it was only in the latter half
of the Abbasid era that Islam began to appeal to the broader population of the Indian
subcontinent, evolving beyond its status as a tolerated minority religion. 19 This
shift coincides with the arrival of Sufis from Iran through Al-Sindh, and travelling
deeper into India. The more mystical and less restrictive form of Islam they
preached made the Sufis more successful than the conservative theologians. They
also managed to find a great deal of common ground with the Hindu yogis they
came into contact with. Many Sufi schools were developed in India, blending the
life of an Islamic mystic with that of a yogi, or Bhakti saint. 20 Through Sufi and
Indian efforts, Islam came to spread more quickly than had previously been
possible. Consider Indonesia, a nation that is home to the largest Muslim
population in the world, received the message of Islam from Indian missionaries
and traders. The fact that it was Islam, and not Hinduism, which became the
majority religion in Indonesia speaks to both the strength of the Sufi message and
to the vital role Muslims played in sea based trade across Asia. 21
Despite the distrust those at the top of the Hindu caste system had of Muslims
during the early spread of Islam, and the occasional periods of conflict between the
Islamic-ruled Sindh and their southern neighbors, these manifold contributions

16

Egger, A History of the Muslim World to 1405, 9.
Ali, 14.
18
Ali, 56.
19
Ali, 53.
20
Friedmann, 72.
21
Wade, “An Early Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia,” 235.
17

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Islam made to Indian culture and vice-versa demonstrate the proud legacy the two
civilizations built together.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BENNISON, AMIRA K. The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the Abbasid Empire.
New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 2009.
EGGER, VERNON O. A History of the Muslim World to 1405: The Making of a
Civilization. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004.
ENGINEER, ASGHAR ALI. Islam in India: The Impact of Civilizations. New Delhi:
Indian Council for Cultural Relations, 2002.
FARROKH, KAVEH. Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Oxford:
Osprey Publishing, 2007.
FRIEDMANN, YOHANAN. Islam in Asia, Volume I: South Asia. The Magnes Press,
1984.
KENNEDY, HUGH. When Baghdad Ruled the World: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s
Greatest Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004.
ROBINSON, FRANCIS. Islam and Muslim History in South Asia. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2001.
WADE, GEOFF. “An Early Age of Commerce in Southeast Asia, 900-1300 CE.”
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40, no. 2 (2009): 221-265.
WEIT, GASTON. Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.

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