Islam in Asia

Islam began in Asia in the 7th century during the lifetime of Muhammad. A number of adherents of Islam have lived in Asia & specially West Asia and South Asia since the beginning of Islamic history. Islam is said to have arrived in Manipur (Northeast India) in 615 AD via Chittagong which is part of present-day Bangladesh's coast in the age of silk route (both onland and by sea) trades when Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas (b.594-d.674 AD) and others namely Uwais al-Qarni (594-657), Khunais ibn Hudhaifa, Saeed ibn Zaid, Wahb Abu Kabcha, Jahsh and Jafar ibn Abu Talib preached there. The Barmakid family was an early supporter of the Abbasid Revolution against the Umayyads and of As-Saffah. This gave Khalid ibn Barmak considerable influence, and his son Yaḥyā ibn Khālid (d. 806) was the vizier of the caliph al-Mahdi (ruled 775–785) and tutor of Hārūn ar-Rashīd (ruled 786-809). Yaḥyā's sons al-Faḍl and Ja'far (767-803) both occupied high offices under Harun.

Many Barmakids were patrons of the sciences, which greatly helped the propagation of Indian science and scholarship from the neighbouring Academy of Gundishapur into the Arabic world. They patronized scholars such as Gebir and Jabril ibn Bukhtishu. They are also credited with the establishment of the first paper mill in Baghdad. The power of the Barmakids in those times is reflected in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights; the vizier Ja'far appears in several stories, as well as a tale that gave rise to the expression “Barmecide feast”.

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