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Damascus, SANA – ‘Far East’s Walis…Unknown legends in the far reaches of the globe’ a historical novel written by Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari which relates how Islam spread in Malay Archipelago, a strategic area located between southeast Asia and Australia, without bloodshed and occupation.
The book presents historical documents which the author has collected detecting the early transmission of intellectual movement from the Arab and Islamic region to the southeast Asia at the hands of merchants, clergymen, travelers and others, who fled political oppression.
The Islamic globalization has preceded what is called now the ‘western globalization’ one thousand year, according to Dr. al-Jaafari, who indicated that the Arab Islamic East knew a lot about Malay islands, meanwhile, Europe was secluded and drowned in the abyss of ignorance.
He made a comparison between Europeans, who brought warships and cannons to the Malay area after discovering it, and the Arabs, who brought senior Muslim historians such as Yaqout al-Hamwi, Suliman al-Tajer and others to the same area.
“The Andalusian merchant vessels carried the pioneers of Indonesian renaissance to Mecca, Damascus and Cairo to learn more about steadfastness, strength and how to stand firm in their struggle against the European invaders,” al-Jaafari said.
Besides the narrative style, al-Jaafari based on accurate scientific research and methodology in writing his 665-page book published in 2016 by the Syrian General Commission for Book.
Dr. al-Jaafari is Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature from University of Damascus in 1977. He obtained a Diploma of Higher Studies in translation and Arabization from University of Damascus in 1978. He has State Doctorate in History of Islamic Civilization in South East Asia, University of Sharif Hedayatullah-Jakarta, Indonesia 2002.
R. Raslan / Ghossoun
