Muslims who advanced there, captivated by its congenial surroundings, tend to settle there for good and do not think of leaving the place. Silla is located to the extreme end of China and as a white race, Silla people are descendants of Noah’s son Japhet and Japhet’s son Amur.Silla is a country abounding in gold. Ibn Khurdadhbih was the first Arab scholar who chronicled Muslim settlement in Korea during the Unified Silla era (661-935): These documents include writings from eighteen Muslim scholars, including Ibn Khurdadhbih, Sulaiman al-Tajir, Mas‘udi, and others. Muslim Settlement in Silla Societyĭirect contact between Muslims and Koreans on the Korean Peninsula is described in 23 Islamic sources written between the ninth and sixteenth centuries. In spite of these facts, the understanding of Islam in Korean society has been neglected due to a lack of scholarship in the field. Encounters between Korea and Islam are thought to have started as early as the middle of the seventh century and have continued until recently without generating much conflict or antagonism. With the birth of Islam, Korean-Muslim cultural contact accelerated, and commercial relations were further strengthened. Abtin married a Silla princess named Frarang and contributed substantially to Silla society. According to the 2014 book Kushnameh in Korea, a Sassanid prince named Abtin immigrated with his subjects to Silla. The popularity of Iranian designs in Korea can be seen in the widespread use of pearl-studded roundels and symmetrical, zoomorphic patterns.Īn ancient Persian epic poem, the Kushnameh, contains detailed descriptions of Silla. The influence of Sassanid culture was profoundly felt in other ways as well, most notably in the fields of music, visual arts, and literature. Samguk Sagi-the official chronicle of the Three Kingdoms era, compiled in 1145-contains further descriptions of commercial items sold by Middle Eastern merchants and widely used in Silla society.
Other items uncovered during the excavation include a silver bowl engraved with an image of the Persian goddess Anahita a golden dagger from Persia clay busts and figurines portraying Middle Eastern merchants. Assuming that the tomb was constructed in the fifth or sixth century, it can safely be said that Persian merchandise had already found its way into Korea and was being used by Koreans. In addition to specimens of conventionally cut glass, the bottle unearthed from tomb 98 shows the typical manufacturing technique of Sassanid Persia. One example is the discovery of Roman and Persian glass cups in the ancient tombs of Gyeongju, capital of the Silla kingdom. Written references are few and far between, but there is sufficient documentation to demonstrate the existence of significant commercial ties.
Long before the advent of Islam, Korea and the Middle East had already established trade relations by sea and overland routes such as the Silk Road. This essay introduces the 1,500 years of contact between Koreans and the Middle East based on a brief historical survey from the fifth century to the present. Yet all of these historical circumstances are cited in reliable Korean and Islamic sources. It may be hard to believe that a fifteenth-century Muslim leader recited verses from the Qur’an as he wished the Korean king a long life and prosperous nation that the traditional Korean lunar calendar was likely influenced by Islamic calendar science or that there was a grand mosque in Gaegyeong, the capital city of the thirteenth-century Goryeo kingdom. Misconceptions about certain aspects of Islam-such as polygamy, the status of the Prophet Muhammad, attitudes toward violence and terrorism, human rights, and the role of women-are widespread, and have even found their way into some Korean school textbooks. Although the exact date of the arrival of the first Muslims in Korea has not yet been determined, relations between Korea and the Islamic world can be traced to the middle of the ninth century, when Ibn Khurdadhbih mentioned the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla in his Kitab al-Masalik wa-l-Mamalik.ĭespite Korea’s long history of close cultural and commercial relations with the Middle East, many Koreans still harbor an image of Islam and Arabs that is far from positive. Striking artifacts from the fourth and fifth centuries allude to an ancient history of commercial and political relations between Korea and the peoples of the Middle East, which continued after the birth of Islam. Contrary to popular belief, Islamic history in Korea and Korea-Middle East relations predate the Korean War by more than a millennium.
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