Korea and the Muslim World : A Historical Encounter

Korea and the
Muslim World : A Historical Encounter

INTRODUCTION

Being the
attractive commercial markets to destination by Muslim merchants, East Asia
(China proper-Korea-Japan) was the region early affected by Arab and Islamic
culture. The cultural encounters are regarded as an outcome of the ancient
China-West Asia (mainly Arabia and Persia) commercial relations through
sea-routes even before the Islamic advent.

In spite of the above facts, the study of Islamic history in the East
Asia has been neglected until recently, even though comprehensive researches in
this field are very important in view of enlightening forgotten history of
cultural contacts of the East Asia with the Islamic world. Except several
research works on Islam in China by western
orientalists between the late 19^th and the early 20^th
centuries, very little attention has been paid to cultural and religious
aspects of mutual relations between East Asia and Muslim world because of the
relatively backward state of indigenous scholarship. In these academic
circumstances, the research is strongly required to enlighten the history and
cultural exchanges between Korea and the Muslim world.

In contrast
to all the available Islamic-Eastern-Western materials collected, this study
attempts to dig out some illuminating historical facts that may open new
horizon of research on this subject in the future. Some important findings
achieved through this survey can be summarized as follows.

I

The exact
date at which Muslims first came to Korea has not yet been determined, but it
is believed that they, along with their Islamic culture, came to Korea via
China during the Unified Silla Kingdom (661-935 CE). China had close commercial
relations with Arab and Persian Muslims, who traveled to T’ang China (618-907
CE) mostly along sea-routes through the Indian Ocean. Archaeological excavations, anthropological
materials, folklore and oral tradition have presented a lot of reliable
evidence for cultural exchanges between ancient Korea and Western Asia. The
trade goods between two regions include Roman and Persian-type glassware and
clay busts that have been excavated from Silla royal tombs, and Persian carpets
written in the Sam
Guk Sa Gi (Chronicles of Three Kingdoms, here in after SGSG), stone statues resembling Arian - Persian
people, symmetrical patterns and designs of tree and bird in Gyeong-ju area. In
particular, an ancient Persian epic entitled ‘Kushnâmâ’, which deals with a love story between the
Sassanid Persian prince and the Silla princess in the mid-7^th
century, has recently been discovered. The story further attests to the
cultural and historical exchanges and contacts between Korean and Western Asia.
These concrete pieces of evidence show that Western Asian culture has
long been flowing into the Korean Peninsula even before the advent of Islam. It is estimated that it would have taken
minimum six months and maximum 10 months to travel the Silk Road from
Constantinople to Gyeong-ju in the 8^th and 9^th centuries
based on the distance and the speed of the camels which were used as a mean of
transport for long distances. Therefore, it can be said that the Korean
Peninsula and Western Asia, including Byzantine Empire were already living in
the ‘simultaneous fashion era’ 1,200 years ago.

From the
Muslim manuals of navigation that have come down to us, it became clear that
Muslim navigators were quite at home in south-eastern sea of China, where their
own colonies called Fan Fang were established as early as the 8^th
century. According to some Arab travelers who visited China in the mid-9^th
century such as Sulaimân al-Tâjir and Abu Zaid, there were more than 120,000
Muslims in the south-eastern coast of China.

At the same
time Korea also had very friendly relations with the T’ang Dynasty because the
Silla Kingdom was able to realize its long-cherished unification of Korean
peninsula thanks to the support and assistance of the T’ang army. Therefore,
extensive political, economic and cultural relations between the two were at
the height of prosperity. Moreover, there were voyage routes that took only a
few days from the western part of Korea to various southern and eastern ports
in China, where large Muslims communities were found.

It is very
likely that Silla people came into contact with Muslims through several
channels:

1. Business
contacts in Chinese ports with Muslims merchants who dominated trade between Arabia-India-Malay-China. Korean
merchants at that time controlled north-eastern regional markets connecting
each other ‘China-Korea-Japan’.

2. Political
contacts in Ch’ang-an, the capital of the T’ang Dynasty, between Muslims in the
city and Korean diplomats and trade missions who regularly visited the Chinese
court as a part of fair-respect diplomacy or official trade.

3. Cultural
contacts in China between Muslims and Korean students who were dispatched for
studying Chinese culture with governmental scholarships.

4. Religious
contacts with Muslims by Korean Buddhist monks who frequently went to China and
the West Region (modern Turkestan). Some of their travel descriptions tell us
their contacts with Muslims and understandings of Islamic teachings.

5. Direct
advances of Muslims to Korea for trade purpose since 845.

Direct
encounters between two different cultural representatives in Korean peninsula
can be born out by references to Silla found in the writings by Muslim
historians or geographers such as Ibn Khurdâdih, Sulaimân al-Tâjir and Mas’ûdî between the 9^th-15^th
centuries. Ibn Khurdâdbih was the first Arab who informed of Muslims’ residence
in Silla Korea. Mas’ûdî mentioned Iraqis’ residence there. More interesting
information can be found in the books of Shamsuddin Dimashqi, Ahmad al-Nuwâyri
and Al-Maqrîzî that mentioned the Alwais’ immigration to Silla for seeking
their asylum against pressure of the Ummayad Caliphate. But nobody wrote
Muslims’ return from Korea.

In addition
to Islamic sources, SGSG among Korean historical documents, gives us a
list of trade goods including Persian carpets transacted mainly by Muslim
merchants. The descriptions showed clearly such trade goods had already found
their way into Korea.

The first
Korean historical document on the relations with Muslims can be GS(Goryeosa),
the official chronicle of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). According to GS,
a Tashi (Arab) group of 100 members headed by Al-Razi came to Korea for trade
in 1024. Afterward, several Muslim trade groups headed by Hassan, Razi and Abu
Nahab continued to come to Korea with their native products. During their stay
in Korea, they were treated as important guests by the king and returned with
Korean products given by the king.

II

When the
Mongols controlled Korea in 1270, many Muslims who had exerted their capability
in most policy-making and administrative posts under the Mongol regime came to
Korea accompanied by the Mongols. During the Goryeo Dynasty, in particular
under the Yüan (1270-1368) intervention to Goryeo, we understand that through
detailed investigation of Korean historical references such as GS and Goryeo-Sa
Jeol-Yo(GSJY:official chronicles of the Goryeo Dynasty compiled in 1452 by
Gim Jong-seo), many Muslims settled down permanently and assimilated to Korean
society thanks to the preferential treatment and profitable economics
advantages they could enjoy.

One example
of Muslims’ naturalization as Koreans is the case of ‘Samga’ who is
believed to be a Uighur Muslim came to Korea as a chamberlain for Mongol
princess Jeguk, a daughter of Kubilai Khan, who later became a queen of Goryeo
Dynasty. He naturalized to Korea after marriage with a Korean woman and he is
now known as the originator of Jang clan of Deok-su whose communities are
prosperous even in present times.

Muslims in
Korea formed their own communities in Gae-seong, the Goryeo capital, and its
outskirts, where they could keep on their own cultural customs and tradition as
well as Islamic religious occasions. They even possessed own shops selling
their native products in Gae-seong. They built Mosques called ‘Yegung’.
Religious leaders were chosen in the Muslim communities to perform acts of
worship in accordance with the Islamic law and customs. From time to time the
Muslims leaders had exceptional honor to be invited to attend court ceremonies
where they practiced their own religious rituals such as Qur’an recitation to
pray for king’s long life and the prosperity of the country.

But under the
assimilation policy of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), Muslim settlers in Korea,
who secured quite high social and economic positions, shed gradually their
native attire, custom and rituals to which they had adhered for about 150
years.

In spite of
the negative progress for the Muslim upgrading in Korea under the assimilation
policy of the Joseon Dynasty, a wide range of high cultural and scientific
achievements by Muslims such as astronomy, calendar science, medicine, musical
and scientific instruments were introduced and utilized in Korean society.
According to Joseon Wangjo Silok (JWS: official chronicles of the Joseon
Dynasty), Korean lunar calendar system, which was widely used through the
Joseon Dynasty, was completed based on the theory of Islamic astronomy and
calendar science. The advanced Islamic science might have contributed to the
invention of various scientific instruments in Korea in the mid-15^th
century, such as celestial globe, water clock, sundial, astronomic clock, and
rainfall gauge.

III

With collapse
of the Yüan Dynasty (a Mongol-Chinese regime), the Ming Dynasty was established
in China, while the Joseon Dynasty newly appeared in Korea replacing the Goryeo
Dynasty. Influenced by such political changes and the conservative policy
undertaken by the new Korean government, which adopted Neo-Confucianism as a
national ideology, as well as external changes in commercial dominance in the
East Asia from Muslims to western merchants such as the Portuguese, Spanish and
Dutch, Muslims’ contacts to the Korean peninsula and their cultural and
commercial activities became decreased. No more historical documents are found
on cultural contacts between Korea and Muslim world from the mid-15^th
century until the early 20^th century.

Islamic
activities in the East Asian region became vigorous again with the coming of
some religious missions, who were dispatched officially or secretly to China and
Japan as a part of Pan-Islamic policy of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II.

Abdurreshid
Ibrahim Efendi, a patriotic Pan-Islamist and Russian Turk in this period, came
to Korea to disseminate Islam, but his efforts were not successful because the
situation of Korea under the Japanese control and his language barrier
prohibited free contacts with and collection of accurate information concerned
from the Korean general public. Nevertheless, his travel account Alem-i
Islam (Islam in the world) is regarded as a valuable resource for the
modern history and real situations of Korea right before its annexation to
Japan in 1910 from the Muslim’s point of view.

Islamic
activities during the pre-modern times in Korea were started with the coming of
Russian Turks in 1920s, who escaped from the suppression of the Russian
Bolshevik regime. Around 200 Russian Muslim Turks, mostly Kazans, made
permanent settlement in Korea. The Turkic population established their own
national and religious federation (Millî ve dinî cemiyet) under the
chairmanship of Kerim Sulatiman Efendi. They bought a two-story building near
the city hall of Seoul and used it as a prayer hall as well as a cultural
center and school. These Turkic Muslims enjoyed the profitable regional trade
between Manchuria-Korea-Japan and obtained high social position under the
protection of the Japanese Government-General of Korea. However, they were
pressured to emigrate to Turkey and the U.S.A. due to the political turmoil in
Korea between 1945 and 1950.

A modern
Muslim community in Korea appeared in 1955 by another group of Turkish Muslims,
who had participated in the Korean War (1950-1953) under the banner of the
United Nations to defend South Korea from the attacks of Communist allies’
troops from the North. These Turkish soldiers, while performing their duties to
defend peace and freedom, propagated their religion by which the first Korean
Muslims opened a new era for Islam in Korea.

The findings
of this study reveal some interesting aspects of Korea’s long relations with
Muslim world. Of course, modern Muslim community in Korea was formed due to the
efforts of Turkish Muslim soldiers who participated in Korean War in 1955. But
the religion of Islam and Muslim’s presence had been recognized in the Korean
peninsula long before. This fact alone provides us with a new sense of
direction and sources of research to further understanding of Korea’s
1200-year-long relations with the Islamic cultural sphere. This research is a
comprehensive survey to encourage research interests towards that direction.
The possible re-orientation on each topic of this study may help reshape our
present status of arts in approaching the issue of Korea-Islamic cultural
confluence.