Россия и Арабский мир: к 200-летию профессора Санкт-Петербургского университета Шейха ат-Тантави (1810–1861)

264 Valley. India was a fulcrum of world trade and a meeting point of western and eastern trade routes. Archaeological excavations across the region regularly yield evidence of the Arabs intimate maritime and commercial links with our civilizations in Harappa and Mohenjodaro. There is evidence of relations between the Harappan civilisation and the Dilmun society. From the time immemorial these two civilizations have been in constant contact with the exchange of goods, ideas, cultures and people of each other. At this end of history, Indo-Arab relations have been on a distinctive trajec- tory with the massive movement of people from India to the Arab world and vice versa in the form of pilgrimage or labor migration. The cultural contacts were not confined to the linguistic interactions only, but to a wide variety of activities ranging from menu to the naming of individuals and clans. The Arabs have contributed even to the naming of this region, Hindustan. The name to the religion Hinduism is partly an Arab con- tribution. The spread of Islam fostered this linkage tremendously. The history of learning and teaching of Arabic language in northern In- dia started with the arrival of Islam but in southern India much before the Islam. It came as the language of Arab traders who were in the region in visi- ble numbers. It was further boosted by the invasion of Mohammed bin Qasim in 710 AD. Teaching of Arabic started traditionally in Mosques and Ma- drasas which were established to carter studies on Qur’an, Hadith and other aspects of Islamic studies. People learnt Arabic because it was the language of Quran and was compulsory to understand Islam. These madrasas played an important role in promotion of Arabic language and produced famous schol- ars of Qur’an, Hadith, Fiqh and Islamic history. India has not only produced imminent scholars in different fields of Arab history and Islamic studies but also in Arabic language and literature who had immensely enriched the Arabic literature in both forms of prose and poetry. Writing poetry in Arabic had started in India some time in the 7th century and flourished in many forms. Haroon bin Mosa Al-Multani is con- sidered as the first Indian Arabic language poet. Arabic poets of Indian origin like Abul Ata As-Sindhi (d.796), Abul Hindi and Abu As-Sila Al-Sindhi had made a huge contribution to the Arabic literature in Umammyed and Abbasid period. Arabs has certified the Arabic literary works carried out by the Indi- ans as the great Indian Madh poet, Ghulam Ali Azad Belgrami was titled «Hassan –ul-Hind» (the Hassan of India) in a reference to great Arab poet, Hassan bin Thabit. India’s Arabic poetry had enriched Arabic literature im- mensely as the Arab poets have borrowed several themes from them. It is difficult to trace out the beginning of Arabic Madh (praising of Prophet Mohammed) poetry in Indian subcontinent but Indian scholars of