JEDDAH, 28 September 2005 — India is on the move and it is about time for Saudis not only to discover the country’s different aspects but also to take them seriously. This was the conclusion of a recent seminar on the historic links between India and the Arab world.
Organized by the Consulate General of India and the Saudi-Indian Business Network (SIBN) in Jeddah, the seminar which took place on Sunday was one of the highlights of the current India Festival. Among the participants in the seminar were Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, former deputy chairman of the Shoura Council and former secretary-general of the Muslim World League; Dr. Rashad bin Hashim Hassan, vice chairman of the South Asian Tawafa Establishment; Khaled Almaeena, editor in chief of Arab News; and Zahid Ali Khan, editor in chief of Hyderabad-based Urdu daily Siasat.
Dr. Naseef reminisced about his early experiences with Indians in Jeddah in the late 1940s and early 1950s. “All consumer goods came from India in those days. In Jeddah there was an area known as ‘Qasbatul Hunood’ — the Indian Quarter. It was later demolished to make way for a new street called Shara Al-Dhahab. We walked through that quarter on the way to school. The shops there displayed all kinds of Indian goods. Then, as now, the Indians were a lively community and they have made many valuable contributions to the Kingdom’s development.”
Dr. Naseef also recalled his first visit to Bombay in the mid-1950s. “I found a big Arab community in Bombay. It included a range of people — merchants, students and even workers. I saw people from the Arab world working as laborers at the port in Bombay. I also remember students from Saudi Arabia going to India on scholarships to study and learn.”
Dr. Rashad bin Hashim Hassan, vice chairman of the South Asian Tawafa Establishment, presented a paper on the significance of Haj in bringing together different societies. “Haj is important because it is both an annual and an international gathering. It encourages a very broad exchange of ideas and culture. In the mid-19th century, the introduction of the steam engine greatly improved the Arab world’s links with India and there was a corresponding increase in the number of pilgrims from India and Southeast Asia.”
Speaking of his impressions of India during a recent visit, Khaled Almaeena said he had been pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty of Kerala. “The airport in Cochin was much cleaner and far better organized than our airports. I was surprised by the organization; everybody was in a queue. I felt sorry for many Saudis who go to the West and are harassed by unfriendly immigration officers; in India that was not the case. We even took nearly 3,000 pictures and no policeman confiscated our camera.”
He said that during a visit to an American university, he was amazed to learn of 60 scholarships being reserved for Indians. “When I asked why, they said they wanted to improve the standard of American education by inviting Indian students. The IIT is as good as MIT. India is no longer the land of pirs and fakirs and half-naked people. This image is absolutely distorted and needs to be corrected.”
Zahid Ali Khan said he was privileged to have visited Saudi Arabia with Indira Gandhi in 1983 as a media delegate. “Saudi Arabia has a respectable position in the world and is a role model for Third World countries. Its foreign policy is ideally suited to India’s policy of peaceful coexistence. Islam is the force which binds the two countries.”
Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, the Indian consul general in Jeddah, outlined the historic links between India and the Arab world. He talked about the people of the Hejaz and other parts of the Arab world who first went to India in ancient times. “They were fascinated by India’s spices, pearls, precious stones, silk, sandalwood and perfumes,” he said. “The Arabs had a very high regard for India. ‘Saif Al-Hind’ — the Indian sword — was a prized weapon in Arab armies,” he pointed out.
Quoting noted Indian scholar Syed Suleiman Nadwi, Dr. Sayeed said that mathematicians and philosophers from Sindh had made outstanding contributions to the promotion of learning among the Arabs. Architecture took new shapes with the coming of Islam to India. The world-famous Taj Mahal remains the outstanding example of this Indo-Islamic contact, he added.
