Ahwal Al-Ma'rifa – Special

The famous English poet John Milton wrote in his epic poem Paradise Lost about the Arab Kingdom of Hormuz: "If the world were merely a ring, Hormuz would be its jewel."

There was once a globally renowned Arab kingdom established on the island of Hormuz. Beginning in the late twelfth century AD, this kingdom was able to "play an active role in global trade due to its location in the Arabian Gulf." At the end of the thirteenth century, the famous Italian traveler Marco Polo visited it and recorded his impression of the kingdom, saying: "Merchants come to Hormuz from India, their ships laden with spices, precious stones, silk fabrics, and ivory. The merchants of Hormuz, in turn, transport these goods to the markets of the world. It is a great city, and many cities and villages are subject to it."

The Global Significance of the City of Hormuz:

The city of Hormuz controlled the Arabian Gulf commercially and politically. It was an Arab city in character, as explained by Dr. Mohammed Saber Arab, who states: "Perhaps what further strengthens our conviction that Hormuz was Arab in character from its beginnings were the continuous Arab migrations to it, most of which came from Oman. The traveler Duarte Barbosa, who visited several cities of the Gulf, identified the places belonging to the Kingdom of Hormuz, including Qalhat, Qurayyat, Muscat, and Sohar. The traveler confirms that Arabic was the dominant language, that the majority of the inhabitants were Arabs, and that its rulers belonged to the Azd lineage and were people of a civilized cultural tradition."

The Arab Kingdom of Hormuz also witnessed extensive coexistence among different ethnic groups. Muslim geographers such as Al-Istakhri, Al-Muqaddasi, and Al-Idrisi "emphasized the city's global character when describing its inhabitants, among whom were numerous Persian, Indian, Baluchi, Turkish, Arab, and European merchants, to the extent that the city appeared as a global gathering place, while nevertheless retaining its Arab and Islamic character."

The Arab Kingdom of Hormuz was a powerful and independent kingdom with its own political entity in the Arabian Gulf. According to the traveler Ludwig Wertmann, three hundred merchant ships were anchored at its port, and much of its trade consisted of pearls, precious stones, medicinal substances, and spices.

Although the island brought together people of many different backgrounds, Arabic was the language of commerce and communication, and most of its inhabitants were Arabs. Hormuz achieved widespread international fame, as this Arab island became an important link in the transportation of global trade between East and West. It became a symbol of wealth, and ordinary Europeans knew it as the end of the world, believing that whoever possessed Hormuz possessed the entire world.

However, by the end of the fifteenth century AD, weakness began to affect the kingdom, and it was subjected to Portuguese colonization. By the end of the sixteenth century, the English and Dutch had strengthened their influence in the Gulf to the point that they were able to eliminate the Portuguese presence, which had occupied the island for a period of time. Later, in the seventeenth century, the island was burned, and nothing remained of its Arab-Islamic history except its ruins.

A Historical Overview:

Turanshah, of Arab origin, is considered the true founder of the Kingdom of Hormuz in the tenth century AD. The kingdom continued to grow and prosper until it became a well-known commercial center from the late eleventh century and succeeded in taking a leading position in the trade of the Arabian Gulf. Hormuz became one of the jewels among the great cities of the medieval era.

Despite the Persians' claims that the Kingdom of Hormuz came under their influence at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the majority of historical sources indicate that the island's inhabitants retained their Arab character and that their influence extended over, and indeed controlled, most of the islands and ports of the Arabian Gulf, from Oman to Qatif and Bahrain. This political and commercial control over the Arabian Gulf provided the Sultan of Hormuz with significant revenues, as researcher Sabri Al-Hamdi explains. It was also a gateway for global trade to and from the Arabian Gulf region. All the coastal maritime cities were subject to the Sultan of Hormuz, and some of them had military garrisons where authority was administered by governors appointed by him.

The Sultan of Hormuz possessed numerous ports and cities on both shores of the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. Thirteen settlements are mentioned along the coast of the Arabian Peninsula, extending from Bahrain to the Shatt al-Arab and onward to Lingah. The Sultan of Hormuz also possessed numerous castles, which he used to defend his sultanate from the landward side, all of them located along the Persian coast.

Among the islands possessed by the Sultan of Hormuz, the Arab kingdom, were Qeshm, Hendorabi, Bushehr, Larak, Tumb, and Forur.

Since its establishment, the Kingdom of Hormuz enjoyed a prominent position in the exchange of goods from the East. It transported these goods with its own ships or permitted their transportation in exchange for collecting fees from foreign vessels passing through its territorial waters toward Iraq. From Iraq, the goods were transported by camel caravans to Aleppo, then to Tripoli in the Levant, and sometimes to Alexandretta or Beirut.

It was a glorious history of an Arab kingdom that the Arabs lost, just as they lost many places in the East, the West, and Europe, as they lost Andalusia. Yet the shadows of history cannot be erased, and civilizations remain the enduring memory of the earth.

Footnotes:

• Dr. Mohammed Saber Arab: The Kingdom Swallowed by History, Nizwa Magazine, Issue 3, June 1995, pp. 114–127.

• Sabri Faleh Al-Hamdi: Hormuz and Its Commercial Role in the Arabian Gulf During the Sixteenth Century, Al-Wathiqa Magazine, Issue 47, January 2005.

Wikipedia

• Dr. Hassanein Rabie and Dr. Laila Ismail: The History of the Kingdom of Hormuz from Its Establishment to Its Fall in 1622 AD.

Archive.org – The History of the Kingdom of Hormuz