Hinduism in Arab States - Historical Background

Historical Background

Links between Arabia and the western coast of India have been strong and persistent. Arab sailors were using the southwest monsoon winds to trade with western Indian ports before the first century CE. An Arab army conquered Sindh in 711. Arab traders settled in Kerala in the 8th century, becoming the ancestors of the Mappilas. In the opposite direction, medieval Gujaratis and other Indians traded extensively with Arab and Somali ports, including Ormuz, Socotra, Mogadishu, Merca, Barawa, Hobyo and Aden. Arab merchants were the dominant carriers of Indian Ocean trade until the Portuguese forcibly supplanted them at the end of the 15th century. Indo-Arabian links were renewed under the British Empire, when many Indians serving in the army or civil service were stationed in Arab lands such as Sudan. The current wave of Indian immigration to the Arab states of the Persian Gulf dates roughly to the 1960s. Hinduism is also one of the fastest growing religions in the Middle East. Mainly by immigration from the Indian Subcontinent. In Iran, Hinduism is the fastest growing religion, spurred mainly by interest in New Age gurus like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Mahesh Yogi.